Melecta albifrons (type of cuckoo bee )

Another regular to the garden, I get a few different colour variations of these from all black to black and beige.

 

Older blog posts of this type of bee and colour variations see HERE   and HERE

Andrena haemorrhoa (early mining bee)

 

Its great to see the early mining bee back again, pictured above is a female , notice her very light hairy rear legs and below is a male , notice the hairy face and lack of hoar on the rear legs

For more information please see my first blog entry of this bee HERE

Poecilus versicolor

 

11-13 mm with a shiny coppery green appearance. There are four Poecilis species in Britain but only two are common and likely to be found in Leicestershire and Rutland. Poecilis cupreus is distinguished from the similar P. versicolor by having fine punctuations on its head between its eyes. In P. versicolor, the head is completely smooth and unpunctured. P. cupreus also prefers dryer habitats. Poecilis is distinguished as a genus by the keel on the basal antennal segments.

Habitat
Prefers open, dry habitats with short grass e.g. parkland and agricultural fields but also occasionally in woodland.
When to see it
Most likely to be seen in spring and summer
Life History
It is a general predator. Breeds in spring
UK Status
Common but local across southern England and south Wales as far south as the Wash with scattered records south to Scotland

Box Bug (Gonocerus acuteangulatus)

Gonocerus acuteangulatus Box Bug
Family: Coreidae

A relatively large reddish-brown squashbug, distinguished from the commoner Coreus marginatus by the narrower abdomen and more pointed lateral extremities of the pronotum. Nymphs have a green abdomen.

Historically very rare (RBD1) and known only from Box Hill in Surrey, where it feeds on Box trees, this bug is expanding its range and now occurs widely in the south-east of England and beyond. It is exploiting different foodplants, and has been found on hawthorn, buckthorn, yew and plum trees.

Red Mason Bee – Osmia bicornis *Male

A male mason bee

For more information click HERE

Nomada bees explained

There are nearly 30 species of Nomada bees in the UK. Also known as cuckoo bees, they are cleptoparasites of various Andrena bee species, in that they “steal” their nests and lay their own eggs in the brood chamber. When the Nomada larvae hatch they will then kill the egg or larvae of the host bee and consumer the pollen stores .

Cleptoparasite.

Social insect colonies contain attractive resources for many organisms. Cleptoparasites sneak into their nests and steal food resources. Social parasites sneak into their social organisations and exploit them for reproduction. Both cleptoparasites and social parasites overcome the ability of social insects to detect intruders, which is mainly based on chemoreception. Here we compared the chemical strategies of social parasites and cleptoparasites that target the same host and analyse the implication of the results for the understanding of nestmate recognition mechanisms. The social parasitic wasp Polistes atrimandibularis (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), and the cleptoparasitic velvet ant Mutilla europaea (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae), both target the colonies of the paper wasp Polistes biglumis (Hymenoptera: Vespidae). There is no chemical mimicry with hosts in the cuticular chemical profiles of velvet ants and pre-invasion social parasites, but both have lower concentrations of recognition cues (chemical insignificance) and lower proportions of branched alkanes than their hosts. Additionally, they both have larger proportions of alkenes than their hosts. In contrast, post-invasion obligate social parasites have proportions of branched hydrocarbons as large as those of their hosts and their overall cuticular profiles resemble those of their hosts. These results suggest that the chemical strategies for evading host detection vary according to the lifestyles of the parasites. Cleptoparasites and pre-invasion social parasites that sneak into host colonies limit host overaggression by having few recognition cues, whereas post-invasion social parasites that sneak into their host social structure facilitate social integration by chemical mimicry with colony members.

Nomada fabriciana female

could just be the opposite sex to one already id’d but this one is has far more black then any other ive seen

Nomada leucophthalma (revised ID) type of cuckoo bee

 

This is a revised ID for this photo which was posted last year BWARS have said it is more than likely a Nomada leucophthalma .. again as I have posted before , it can be hard to ID some bees without a microscope and dissection.

Description
This is a large cuckoo bee (12 mm) with dark red, orange-tipped antennae (instead of just orange in the case of Nomada flava) and dark legs. It has a yellow and black striped abdomen with a red band at the front. It also has a thick pile of orange hair on the mesonotum.
Similar Species
It is similar to N. flava and others, but the dark antenna and legs plus the early flying season help to distinguish this N. leocophthalma.
Habitat
It favours hedgerows and meadows, where it searches for the nest holes of Andrena clarkella in which to lay its eggs, and feeds on nectar from flowers such as Colt’s-foot.
When to see it
The adult is on the wing early in the year – from March to May.
Life History
It is a parasite of the small bee Andrena clarkella.
UK Status
Fairly frequent and widespread in southern Britain.

Information form Nature spot

Nomada flava/panzeri

 

 Nomada flava or Nomada panzeri male. These two species are impossible to tell apart even under a microscope, which raises some interesting questions about evolution in this genus.

Hairy Footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes) Male

A  Male hairy footed flower bee . you can see clearly how it gets its name. You can see the black female HERE