Mustard blue shimmering sand bee

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Mustard blue shimmering sand bee
Mustard blue shimmering sand bee Andrena (Agandrena) agilissima

Mustard blue shimmering sand bee Andrena (Agandrena) agilissima

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Superfamily : Apoidea
Family : Andrenidae
Genre : Sand bees ( Andrena )
Type : Mustard blue shimmering sand bee
Scientific name
Andrena agilissima
( Scopoli , 1770)

The mustard-Blue Schiller Sandbiene ( Andrena agilissima ) is a bees - type from the genus of sand bees ( Andrena ) within the family of Andrenidae .

The species was named Wild Bee of the Year in 2019 .

features

The species reaches a body size of 14 to 15 millimeters and is therefore only slightly smaller than a honey bee , but appears slimmer than this. The body is colored black with a clear blue-metallic shimmer, it bears a pattern of spots and bandages, hair colored in striking white. The wings are also darkened with a bluish metallic sheen. In the species, the propodeum is roughly wrinkled in the female, and in the male it is honeycombed. The fore wing has three cubital cells (different from Andrena lagopus ).

In females, the fourth and fifth tergite of the abdomen (more rarely also the third) has a large, silver-white patch of hair on either side. The thighs of the hind legs have a long protruding, silvery white hairline on the underside. The head, torso and free abdomen, as well as the fore and hind legs, have silver-white hair (with the exception of the dark-haired mesopuras ). In the male, the face, the sides of the trunk section with pronotum and the tergites four to six of the free abdomen are laterally hairy silver-white. In addition to the propodeum, the sides of the thorax are also roughly sculptured in honeycombs. The shape of the male mating organs is also typical: the dorsal lobes of the gonocoxes are rounded, not long pointed.

The species is unmistakable in Central Europe due to its coloring, in connection with the specialized flower visit, and can already be recognized in the field.

The species is very similar to Andrena afrensis , a south-western European species that can be found in Valais (Switzerland). The species can be distinguished in the female sex by the fact that it lacks the typical bluish sheen of the tergites. The males are extremely similar and can only be clearly distinguished genitally morphologically.

distribution

The species is widespread in western Mediterranean to western Europe. It occurs in western North Africa (Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco), on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), all of France, southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, southern Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, east to the furthest Western Romania, as well as Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. A new indication, far from the previous distribution area, from northern India requires confirmation.

Warncke identified the finds from southern Italy as Andrena agillissima subsp. italica separated, which is said to be distinguished by a somewhat broader and at the front notched upper lip appendage and by finer and more scattered dots; the subspecies is usually no longer recognized today.

In Austria the species is widespread almost everywhere in the warm regions, but rarely, and is mostly only found sporadically. The northern limit of the distribution runs through Central Europe. In Germany, distribution information is available from all of southern Germany, north about to the Lahn valley , in northern Germany the species is absent. Recently there have been indications that it, like other heat-loving species, is expanding its area to the north, after having been increasingly rare for decades had become. There are now also finds as far as northern Hesse. The species shows a clear distribution center in southwest Germany, from Bavaria there are only a few, mostly older, finds; However, there are indications that it can currently expand its area in Saxony as well. It is now considered to be endangered in Germany (Red List 3), after it was still considered to be very endangered in 1984. In the neighboring Netherlands it occurs only in the hill country in the Maastricht area. In Poland it is limited to the south, north to Zielona Góra . The species is absent in Great Britain , but has been detected on Guernsey .

Ecology and way of life

The species nests in self-dug caves in steep walls made of loess or sand. The bees each build earth nests for themselves, which are often close to one another in the manner of a colony, and they certainly continue to expand or reuse old structures. It is noticeable that the bees can use parts of the duct system, including the entry holes, together, but ultimately each female creates her own brood cells and only cares for her own offspring. This nesting method is described as communal . The mating usually takes place within the communal buildings or in their surroundings, otherwise on the flowers visited by the females. The females of the new generation fly out in spring and, after mating, start building a new nest in the ground. They provide the brood cells with pollen, which they collect almost exclusively from members of the cruciferous family ( Brassicaceae ). The most important food plant in Central Europe is the field mustard ( Sinapis arvensis ), in addition numerous other species are specified, such as Hederich ( Raphanus raphanistrum ) constricts. The species only trains one generation a year ( univoltin ). The excursion is from the beginning of May to the beginning of June. The quick locomotion of sand bees in general and of the mustard blue shimmering sand bee in particular is described by the part of the name agilissima (Latin: fastest). The species can forage within a radius of one kilometer.

Industrial agriculture and the associated loss of biodiversity and the use of pesticides seriously endanger the wild bee habitat . As a result, their occurrence is decreasing, noticeably, for example, in Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony or Baden-Württemberg.

The blue mustard bee is host to the brood parasitic blood bee Sphecodes rubicundus Hagens, 1875.

Systematics and taxonomy

The species was first described as Apis agilissima by the naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli after a find from Hungary. Andrena fleassae Panzer, 1805, is a synonym . Together with two other West Palearctic species, Andrena afrensis Warncke, 1967 and Andrena asperrima Pérez, 1895, it forms the subgenus Agandrena Warncke, 1968.

Web links

Commons : Mustard blue sand bee ( Andrena agilissima )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Wild bee of the year 2019: the mustard blue shimmering sand bee. December 18, 2018, accessed February 12, 2019 .
  2. ^ Christian Schmidt-Egger, Erwinn Scheuchl (1997): Illustrated tables of identification of wild bees in Germany and Austria. Volume III: Andrenidae. Self-published, Velden / Vils. ISBN 3-00-001407-1
  3. ↑ Andreas Müller, Albert Krebs, Felix Amiet: Bees. Central European species, way of life. Observation. Naturbuch-Verlag Augsburg 1997. ISBN 3-89440-241-5 , on page 92.
  4. ↑ P.Westrich, F.Gusenleitner, F.Amiet (1997): Andrena afrensis Warncke 1967, a new Central European bee species (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Linz biological amounts 29 (2): 1167-1174.
  5. ↑ a b c d F. Gusenleitner & M. Schwarz (2002): Worldwide checklist of the bee genus Andrena with remarks and additions to Palearctic species (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Andreninae, Andrena). Entomofauna, Supplement 10. 1280 pages. on pages 64-65 and map 15.
  6. ↑ Lokesh Kumar Meena & Debjani Dey (2018): A review of Indian subgenus Agandrena and Oreomellissa of Andrena. Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 6 (1): 1182-1185.
  7. ↑ Herbert Zettel, Gerald Hölzler, Karl Mazzucco (2002): Notes on recent occurrences and area extensions of selected wild bee species (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland (Austria). Contributions to entomofaunistics 3: 33-58.
  8. ↑ Hans-Joachim Flügel (2013): First current record of the blue iridescent sand bee Andrena agilissima (Scopoli, 1770) in Northern Hesse (Hymenoptera Aculeata: Apidae). Philippia 15 (4): 347-352. (with distribution map for Germany).
  9. ^ Theo MJ Peeters (2012): Andrena, zandbijen. In: De Nederlandse bijen. herkenning, verspreiding & leefwijze. Natuur van Nederland 11: 189-238.
  10. ↑ Jozef Banaszak (2000): A checklist of the bee species (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Poland, with remarks on their taxonomy and zoogeography, revised version. Fragmenta Faunistica 43 (14): 135-193.
  11. ↑ Michael E. Archer (1994): Recent Rare and Scarce Wasps and Bees (Hym., Aculeata) Recorded from Guernsey and Herm. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine 130: 103-104.
  12. ↑ M.Giovanetti, E. Scamoni, F. Andrietti (2003): The multi-entrance system in an aggregation of Andrena agilissima (Hymenoptera Andrenidae). Ethology Ecology & Evolution 15 (1): 1-18.
  13. ^ RJ Paxton, M. Giovanetti, F. Andrietti, E. Scamoni, B. Scanni (1999): Mating in a communal bee, Andrena agilissima (Hymenoptera Andrenidae). Ethology Ecology & Evolution 11 (4): 371-382.
  14. ^ Paul Westrich & Konrad Schmidt (1987): Pollen analysis, an aid for studying the foraging behavior of wild bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Apidology 18 (2): 199-214.
  15. ↑ Manuela Giovanetti, Eloisa Lasso (2005): Body size, loading capacity and rate of reproduction in the communal bee Andrena agilissima (Hymenoptera; Andrenidae). Apidology 36: 439-447.
  16. ^ Paul Westrich: Habitat requirements of central European bees and the problem of partial habitats. Chapter 1 in Andrew Matheson (editor): The Conservation of Bees. Academic Press, London / San Diego 1996. ISBN 0124797407 .
  17. ↑ The wild bee of the year 2019 - News - News - Bienenjournal.de. Retrieved February 12, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Petr Bogusch & Jakub Straka (2012): Review and identification of the cuckoo bees of central Europe (Hymenoptera: Halictidae: Sphecodes). Zootaxa 3311: 1-41.
  19. ^ Charles D. Mitchener: The Bees of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2nd edition 2007. ISBN 978-0-8018-8573-0 . Page 249.