Wednesday 3 August 2011

Andrena flavipes

Bee, Andrena flavipes, tonguing a grain of pollen on chicory, Cichorium intybus. Jubilee Country Park, 1 July 2011.
Bee, Andrena flavipes, on chicory, Cichorium intybus.  Jubilee Country Park, 1 July 2011.
This bee, common in the south of England, is sometimes called the yellow-legged mining bee. This is a female, and she looks fresh and glossy as she goes after a single grain of pollen on a sunny day. But look at the poor old creature below. This is the same species.

The second photo was taken in overcast conditions, which means the colours are not as saturated, but even so you can see that this bee has lost a lot of her hair, and her furry legs have become completely clogged up with pollen. I wondered whether that might be a way of collecting pollen; but no, this is a solitary bee and has no hive to take it to.

The first photo was taken with my EOS 60D and 100mm macro lens; the second, with my Ixus 100.

Bee, Andrena flavipes, on Hogweed, Heracleum sphondylium, behind Leaves Green car park on 12 July 2011. The hairs on its legs are completely clogged with pollen.
Bee, Andrena flavipes, on Hogweed, Heracleum sphondylium, behind Leaves Green car park on 12 July 2011.

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2 comments:

  1. teegee3 August 2011 at 09:29

    Those chicory stamens (?) look like something made of spun glass--but the flower is itself so tiny. Wiki describes a marvelous plant (though I prefer my coffee without it). And I guess I ought to look up New World bees.

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  2. Bill Welch3 August 2011 at 10:12

    Chicory flowers are 1 to 1 1/2 inches across. They are very photogenic! The bee is about half an inch long, quite big for a mining bee.

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