Until recently this species was known as Psithyrus rupestris but Psithyrus has now been reduced to a subgenus within Bombus. This is a large cuckoo-bee which is a social parasite on the common and widespread red-tailed bumble bee, Bombus lapidarius. Both species are all black with a red tail, but the female parasite has darker wings. Identification keys and general biology are found in Sladen (1912), Free & Butler (1959), Alford (1975) and Prŷs-Jones & Corbet (1991).

During the original IBRA Bumblebee Atlas, I searched old localities for Bombus cullumanus. At the time, we did not know the requirement of many bumblebee species for extensive areas of legume-rich grassland and it seemed possible that these bees might still exist if only one looked hard enough. Unfortunately, the last specimens of rare plants often remain growing in restricted areas long after the insects which used to be associated with them have died out.

More pictures and notes can be found on … Read more

A large bumblebee with a very long tongue, which is often held outstretched as the bee approaches a flower. It is one of three species found visiting very deep blooms such as foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) and honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) (the other bees being B. pascuorum and B. ruderatus). Separating B. hortorum from its close relative B. ruderatus is very difficult and has resulted in considerable problems in establishing the range of the latter… Read more

A large bumblebee with a very long tongue, which is often held outstretched as the bee approaches a flower. It is one of the three species found visiting very deep blooms such as foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) and honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum)(the others being B. pascuorum and B. hortorum). Separating B. ruderatus and its close relative B. hortorum is very difficult, resulting in many problems in establishing the range of the latter species. There is… Read more

If the story of B. cullumanus is one of decline and gloom, that of B. hypnorum reminds us that changes are not necessarily all one way. This small bumblebee, looking rather like a white-tailed B. pascuorum although actually a member of the B. pratorum-group (Pyrobombus), has been steadily increasing its range throughout Europe. That it should be able to expand, in the face of declines of many other… Read more

A small elongate bee with distinctive terminal white hair bands on the abdomen; the female with an orange scopa. This species has always been considered scarce and associated with the commons of Surrey. It utilises resin in the making of the partitions of its nest and the assumption that this could only be provided by pines, combined with its apparent restriction to heaths, suggested to some that it must be an introduction to Britain. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when G R Else and I found a large population based at Thorney Island, with not a pine in sight! Not only this, but this… Read more

A small Megachile with green eyes in life. Tergite 6 of both sexes is clothed largely with adpressed white hairs and the female’s scopal hairs are also white. These characters readily distinguish this species from other Megachile species in Britain. Formerly known in the British literature by the names Megachile argentata and M. dorsalis.

Formerly Hoplitis spinulosa. The taxonomy of O. spinulosa has been the subject of considerable debate. Recent genetic work carried out in Switzerland by Mueller, shows that this taxon should correctly be placed within the genus Osmia rather than left within Hoplitis