A large and distinctive species with bright foxy-red hairs on the thorax and a polished black abdomen.

One of a group of five generally distinctive summer-flying species, females of which all have the hind tibiae widest at the apex (i.e. triangular in outline), not before the apex, as in the vast majority of Andrena. The abdomens of these species have distinct, wide bands of long hairs on each dorsal segment, giving them a rather furry appearance overall. Separating the species within the group is rather more difficult, especially for males.

More pictures and notes can be found on Steven Falk's… Read more

A. labialis is among the largest of our Andrena species and the male is very distinctive, having a large yellow area on the face between the mandibles. Males patrol along hedge-lines and over tall vegetation which contains early-flowering legumes (Fabaceae), such as yellow vetchling (Lathyrus sp.).

Keys and general biology are found in Sladen (1912), Free & Butler (1959), Alford (1975) and Prŷs-Jones & Corbet (1991). Until recently this species was known as Psithyrus campestris, but Psithyrus has now been reduced to a subgenus within Bombus. A very variable species, colours ranging from forms which are all-black to those where the black is broken by two yellow stripes on the thorax and a yellowish tail. This is a cuckoo-bumblebee which is well-known to usurp the nests of Bombus pascuorum and has… Read more

Keys and general biology are found in Sladen (1912), Free & Butler (1959), Alford (1975) and Prŷs-Jones & Corbet (1991). A rather small yellow, black and white-banded bumblebee which is either expanding into habitats it was not previously found in, or has been overlooked in these areas in the past. Whilst it undoubtedly does very well on heathlands and moorlands and may be very frequent here, it is also found in calcareous grasslands, such as Salisbury Plain, coastal dunes and suburban gardens. There is a form known from the Outer Hebrides where the normally white tail is bright… Read more

An unmistakable spring bee, with the head and body entirely black except for a pair of lateral patches of white appressed hairs on most of the gastral tergites. However, in some individuals, these patches are also black, so that the bee is entirely melanic.

There has been considerable confusion over the correct name to apply to this distinctive spring flying species, A. nitida or A. pubescens. It is a large Andrena with, when fresh, bright, foxy-brown hair on the thorax and a polished black abdomen. Females have thin apical side-bars of white pubescence on abdominal segments 1-3, and males have copious white facial hair, especially on the clypeus.

Females are easily identified by their reddish antennae with several of the intermediate segments being black. This banded appearance is visible in the field. It is also the only Nomada species which, in the British Isles, has (in both sexes) a combination of bidentate mandibles and a black labrum; the gaster is mainly reddish.

With its swift, darting flight and predilection for lungwort (Pulmonaria spp.) flowers, this attractive bee is commonly encountered in private gardens in southern England in the spring and early summer. Sexual dimorphism is strongly pronounced, the male being clothed mainly with bright reddish brown hairs, the female entirely black-haired, except for reddish orange scopal hairs on the hind tibia.