In April 2017 Rob Mills photographed a distinctive insect in his garden. This turned out to be the bee-fly Anthrax anthrax, a species never confirmed from Britain before. The bee-fly was sitting on a bee hotel in his garden near Cambridge, on a log drilled with holes containing solitary bee brood cells.
In the older literature this species is sometimes cited under the name Nomada baeri Stöckhert, 1930; a name now treated as a junior synonym of castellana.
A small species with a body length of 5–7 mm. In the field it most resembles Nomada conjungens Herrich-Schäffer and Nomada flavoguttata (Kirby) in both size and coloration and could easily be passed over as being those species. The main distinguishing characters (colour and form of the labrum in the female, and shape of the intermediate flagellar segments in the male) are best viewed under a binocular microscope. The species is included in a recent key to the bees of Switzerland (Amiet et al., 2007).
Distribution:
The only record is a male collected in Jersey, Channel Islands, by A C Warne (St Mary, Malaise trap, 26th June 1991 (BMNH)).
This is a little known species that is apparently widely distributed in western Europe but is sporadic and generally rare. There are, for example, records from Spain, Switzerland and Austria.
Status (in Britain only):
The Channel Islands, for a number of reasons, are excluded from the geographical coverage of the British Red Data book (Shirt, 1987). Its status on the islands is not known.
Habitat:
Not known.
Flight period:
Univoltine; late April to mid July.
Pollen collected:
A cleptoparasitic species, it does not collect its own pollen.
Nesting biology:
In mainland Europe this species is a cleptoparasite of certain species of Andrena in the subgenus Micrandrena, possibly including Andrena anthrisci Blüthgen (a species not found in the British Isles) and Andrena alfkenella Perkins (Stöckhert, 1954; Amiet et al., 2007). The host species in Jersey is not known.
BWARS member Paddy Saunders has detailed an alarming 75% decline in Cornish sites for Eucera longicornis - longhorn bees. Read the report here: http://kernowecology.co.uk/eucera.html
male Eucera longicornis
female Eucera longicornis
Photos: Paddy Saunders
Martin Harvey leads this course introducing a range of pollinating insects, including the variety of different bees and hoverflies: how to find them, how to recognise them and what their role is in pollination. We’ll be able to explore the rich flower meadows and hedgerows of Forty Hall Farm. A number of projects have been set up recently to help record and conserve pollinators, and you’ll be able to find out how to take part in these.
Venue: Forty Hall Farm, Forty Hill, Enfield EN2 9HA
Anglia Ruskin University are researching nesting aggregations of four widespread solitary bees: Andrena fulva, A. cineraria, Halictus rubicundis and Colletes hederae. The project wants people to submit records of nesting aggregations. Full details are given at: the solitary bee project.org
Steven Falk, author of the 2015 best-selling Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland, has teamed up with the Short-haired Bumblebee Project and Sussex Wildlife Trust to provide a 2 day course specifically aimed at learning about the complex art of solitary bee identification.
Steven Falk, author of the 2015 best-selling Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland, has teamed up with Kent Wildlife Trust to provide a 2 day course specifically aimed at learning about the complex art of bee identification. This will include an introduction to the key differences between various bee genera, and identifying pinned specimens under a microscope using Steve's widely available and much-praised keys. The second day will involve trips to a couple of fine sites to see wild bees and understand more of their ecology and conservation.
Hylaeus signatus male emerging from roost
Pseudomalus auratus
