This species is one of the very few bees that, in Britain, visits only a single flower species for pollen, though it will fly to unrelated species for nectar.

Unique among British bees in carrying at least part of the pollen load in a shallow depression on the lower part of the face, the depression being bounded on each side by a usually prominent blunt process (hence the origin of its specific name).

A recent addition to the list of European bees, being described as new to science in 1993. Previously this bee had been misidentified as both Colletes halophilus and C. succinctus by various authors. It is very closely related to both of these species, especially C. halophilus.

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A relatively recent addition to the British bee list, the first specimen having been found in West Sussex in 1984.

This species was formerly misidentified by British authors as H. leucomelana (Kirby, 1802) (see Yarrow, 1970).

This species is very closely related to M. tricincta and care is necessary to distinguish the two in collections. However, in the field, each species is usually readily identified by the flowers the bees visit. In addition, the present species is more widely distributed in Britain than its congener, being found in northern and western localities from which the other is absent.

At the time of year when many bee populations are declining, M. tricincta appears to be increasing, although it is generally only to be encountered around the inconspicuous flowers of red bartsia (Odontites vernus). In such situations it can be locally abundant and, as with other Melitta species, the males are usually more in evidence than the females.

The female of this species is one of the more attractive and distinctive bees which occur in Britain, the extremely long, golden pollen-collecting hairs on the hind tibiae being particularly notable. D. hirtipes is the only member of its genus which occurs in Britain.