This medium-sized Andrena is very similar to the common A. dorsata (Kirby), but has only been recorded three times in Britain, between 1931 and 1951. Records come from Berkshire and Dorset. Despite examining many A. dorsata over forty years the author has not managed to add anything to these records, although he suspects it was this species he filmed visiting oil-seed rape in Hungary during 2012.

This small bee exhibits seasonal dimorphism. Following a review of the British Micrandrena, Perkins (1914) considered that individuals of the spring generation were a distinct species, Andrena parvula (Kirby). He knew the summer generation as Andrena minutula (Kirby). The differences between the broods were based on very subtle differences in surface microsculpture and punctation. The name parvula was later demoted to that of a junior synonym of minutula (Perkins, 1919). This is a very common species but is easily overlooked and sometimes… Read more

This large Andrena is one of a group of three (A. helvola, A. fucata Smith and A. synadelpha Perkins) which are quite similar in appearance, phenology and habitat preferences (all found most often associated with clearings in deciduous woodland during May and June). The males are often seen visiting the flowers of wood spurge, the females at those of hawthorn and field maple. Females of all species have gasters which sport bands of brown pubescence, differing mostly in the density of the hairs.

The females of this medium-sized Andrena are quite distinctive, with the gaster having a terminal covering of bright golden-yellow hairs, a feature they share with only a few other British species. The males, on the other hand are, like most male Andrena, quite unremarkable, looking at first glance like those of
A. chrysosceles (Kirby), but readily told apart by the lack of yellow facial markings and the fact that they fly rather later in the year.

More pictures and notes can be found on Steven Falk's Flickr site.

A very smart-looking bee when freshly emerged, with bright foxy hairs on the thorax and a shining black abdomen with thin lines of white hairs on the apices of the segments. The males rapidly become very faded. A good character to separate the females is the form of the hind tibia which is widest at the apex, unlike the rest of the bees with this general appearance. When I first became interested in the aculeates in the 1970s this was a fairly scarce bee, but since then it has become one of the commonest andrenid bees, at least in the southern half of England.

Until recently this name wrongly used for A. confinis in Britain. According to Wood (Wood, BWARS Newsletter Autumn 2022) A. congruens has a northern range limit in central Germany and the name A. confinis should be used for the British fauna from now on.

The females of this medium-sized Andrena can be found very commonly in late spring, often visiting the flowers of early umbellifers. Typical specimens are fairly easily recognised in the field: the male has a yellow clypeus with two small black dots at the sides, the female has a shining black abdomen with thin white hair lines at the apices of the segments and a tuft of brown-gold hairs at the tip. The scopa on the hind leg is a bright golden colour. Unfortunately, this happy state of affairs is often upset by the high frequency of stylopised specimens, where all manner of… Read more

Although usually referred to as scotica in Britain, Schwarz et al. (1996) and Gusenleitner & Schwarz (2002) have treated scotica as a synonym of carantonica Peréz. However, Else & Edwards (in press), following P. Westrich’s (in litt.) interpretation of the type of carantonica, regard this is a separate species, with carantonica a junior synonym of trimmerana. It is one of the larger Andrena species, with a generally dark brown abdomen and a contrasting pattern of dark upper and pale lower hairs on the scopa of the hind leg. This… Read more