HYMENOPTERA REPORT 2023
185
Paul Oldfield
Records of the Black Mining Bee, Andrena pilipes, in my Felixstowe garden On the 15 April 2023, while searching my garden for Bees, I came across a large Andrena settled on leaves of Old Man’s Beard (Clematis vitalba) which I knew I had not seen before. After a search through my reference books as well as online I came to the conclusion that it was a male Black Mining Bee, Andrena pilipes. On the 18 April, I found it again. I took a number of photographs on both dates which I hoped would aid identification (Fig. 1).
Figure 1. Black Mining Bee Andrena pilipes, 18 April 2023, Felixstowe.
Identification of this species is complicated due to the very similar Scarce Black Mining Bee, Andrena nigrospina which has a very restricted distribution within the British Isles. Fortunately, there are a few diagnostic features which help separate the species. Male A. pilipes are readily distinguished from A. nigrospina in having the top of the thorax, back of the head and tergites 1-2 black or brown haired while in male A. nigrospina these features are grey haired. Also, the antennal segment 4 is shorter in A. nigrospina than in A. pilipes which has antennal segments 3 and 4 of roughly the same length. Other, somewhat circumstantial, evidence for identification (given the state of play concerning global warning) is the flight periods for both species with A. pilipes first generation recorded from April to May and the second generation mainly in July and August (bivoltine). A. nigrospina’s flight period is somewhat later with some males emerging as early as late April and most records of both sexes from late May through to mid-July (univoltine). Distribution also gives a clue with recent records in Suffolk of A. pilipes and, in the rest of this species range in southern England, being coastal apart from within the Thames Gateway area whereas records of A. nigrospina are now concentrated in and around the Thames Gateway Figure 2. BWARS current status and the Worcestershire/Staffordshire border (Fig. 2). (Feb 2023) for Andrena pilipes.
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 59 (2023)