9 Sandpit Mining Bee

Andrena barbilabris

Characteristics

Length: 0.26–0.33 in (6.5–8.5 mm).

Flight season: March–July.

Nectar sources: Very varied.

Habitat: Heaths, commons, sandpits.

These bees visit the flowers of willows, hawthorns, daisies, gorse, and dandelions in spring, and ragwort in summer. Females have a very furry thorax, reddish on top and yellow on the sides, and a yellow head. The shiny, dark abdomen has several narrow stripes of pale hairs running across it. Males appear silvery due to the white hairs on the sides of the thorax. This bee occupies suitable habitat in large parts of central and northern Europe, northern Asia, and North America.

They nest in a burrow in loose, sandy soil, often on footpaths or even in the gaps between paving stones. Many females may nest in close proximity, and large numbers of males may swarm around these aggregations. When a female enters or leaves a nest burrow, she allows the sand to collapse behind her, presumably to conceal its location. This is important because, in Europe, the tiny sandpit blood bee will be looking for any opportunity to take advantage. The blood bee is a kleptoparasite; if it locates a mining bee’s nest hole it will burrow down it, open one of its cells, destroy the host egg or larva inside, and lay its own egg there before sealing the cell again and making its escape.