An Andrena clarkella colony
19th March 2012
In: March 2012
After hearing about an active Andrena clarkella colony at Warwickshire Wildlife Trust's Brandon Marsh nature Reserve, I set off to get some photographs.
The photographs (left to right) show Andrena clarkella female, Andrena clarkella male and A. clarkella's cuckoo bee; Nomada leucophthalma. The colony covered several square metres, on a bare sandy-soiled bank that captured the mid-morning sun. There were dozens of nest burrows and lots of bees. The Nomada bees are the specific "cuckoo" bees of A. clarkella. The one in the photograph is a female. They are cleptoparasites, in that they "steal" the host bee's nest; entering to lay their own eggs. When the eggs hatch, their larvae eat the host bee's eggs/larve and the food stores.
More Andrena clarkella images in the Gallery here ...
The photographs (left to right) show Andrena clarkella female, Andrena clarkella male and A. clarkella's cuckoo bee; Nomada leucophthalma. The colony covered several square metres, on a bare sandy-soiled bank that captured the mid-morning sun. There were dozens of nest burrows and lots of bees. The Nomada bees are the specific "cuckoo" bees of A. clarkella. The one in the photograph is a female. They are cleptoparasites, in that they "steal" the host bee's nest; entering to lay their own eggs. When the eggs hatch, their larvae eat the host bee's eggs/larve and the food stores.
More Andrena clarkella images in the Gallery here ...