Red-girdled Mining Bee
Fast Facts
Latin name: Andrena labiata
Notable feature: This bee has a bright red band around the abdomen.
Conservation Status: Not Evaluated
Where in the UK: Widespread and scarce in the southern half of England. Rare and coastal in Wales.
Red-girdled Mining Bee (Andrena labiata) © Demian Hiß (CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist)
The Red-girdled Mining Bee is a small mining bee with a bright red band on the abdomen. They look rather like a blood bee (Sphecodes sp.), however, this bee has much more hair on the face. Males look like females; however, they have a distinctive white face.
- Size: 8mm
- Life span: Adults fly for approximately 3 months.
- Diet: Often seen on Forget-me-nots (Myosotis sp.) and Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys).
- Reproduction: This species nests solitarily on a range of sparsely vegetated soils. They are parasitized by the Short-spined Nomad Bee (Nomada guttulata).
- When to see: Late March to late June.
- Population Trend: Declining.
- Threats: Decline of flower-rich habitats.
- Interesting Fact: This is a very beautiful little bee with their red abdomens. The white faces of the males make them especially striking.
Buglife is helping the recovery of populations of Red-girdled Mining Bee and other wildlife via our projects and campaigns, including Kernow Wyls – People for Pollinators, Solitary Bee Week and B-Lines, but we need your help!
Buglife B-Lines are an imaginative and beautiful solution to the problem of the loss of flowers and pollinators. B-Lines are a series of ‘insect pathways’ running through our countryside and towns, along which we are restoring and creating a series of wildflower-rich habitat stepping stones. Linking existing wildlife areas together, creating a network, like a railway, that will weave across the UK landscape. More information about B-Lines and how you can help pollinators can be found here.
Join a recording scheme and log your finds – send any records/sightings to BWARS or download the iRecord app and get recording!
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