Andrena bicolor
| Andrena bicolor | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
female |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Andrena bicolor | ||||||||||||
| Fabricius , 1775 |
Andrena bicolor (also called two-colored sand bee ) is a solitary bee from the family of Andrenidae , a genus of sand bees .
features
The rather small animals show a significant sexual dimorphism , as is usually the case with bees.
female
The females of the two-colored sand bee are about 8-10 mm in size. Her head is completely black with quite long black hair on her forehead. Your thorax is hairy orange. The front pairs of legs are dark. The hind legs have bright scopae. The front part of the abdomen is hairy orange, towards the back it becomes darker. Overall, despite their small size, they have a beefy-looking stature.
male
The males are only about 6-9 mm tall and slender. You have a noticeably dark face. The thorax has rather light brown hair. The abdomen is sparsely hairy.
Similar species
- Females are similar to Andrena clarkella , but this one is significantly larger. It is also occasionally confused with the even larger Andrena nitida .
- Males resemble other small sand bees. A. congruens males look quite similar to them. However, many other candidates for confusion do not have such dark hair on their faces.
Occurrence
The two-colored sand bee is widespread in Europe in warm and temperate latitudes. It is also found in North Africa. To the east their range ends in Central Asia. It is not very demanding and can be found in many habitats.
Way of life
Andrena bicolor lives in two generations. The spring generation hatches in March and flies into May. A second generation comes out from June and flies into August. Andrena bicolor is polyectic, i. that is, she visits many different plant species to gather food for her brood. It builds its nests in the ground, preferably in open places.
Parasites
Nomada fabriciana is a breeding parasite in Andrena bicolor . Like her host, she is bivolted and affects both generations.
swell
- Paul Westrich: Another evidence for the bivoltinism and the host-parasite relationship of Andrena bicolor ( Fabricius 1804) and Nomada fabriciana ( Kirby 1802) (Hym. Apidae). (2006) [1]
Web links
- Insects in Saxony (German)
- wildbienen.de Andrena bicolor (German)
- BWARS Andrena bicolor (engl.)
- S.Falk Andrena bicolor flickr (Engl.)