Bees, Wasps and Ants

A selection of bees, wasps and ants from last year. Well the ones I've tentatively identified that is! Totally new to trying to identify bees so I could easily have them all wrong!

Bees

Big-headed Mining Bee - Andrena bucephala

 Male resting on Butterbur leaves alongside River Sid, Sidford. 

Black Mining Bee - Andrena pilipes

Struggled to get a stationary one for a photo so had to resort to potting one. 

This is a female, found on the cliffs at Branscombe beach.

Blood Bee - Sphecodes sp. 

No chance of identifying to species level, one of 17 species in British Isles which all look the same! This one was at Bystock Ponds reserve, Devon.

Hairy-footed Flower Bee - Anthophora plumipes

Male on patch of Bulbous Comfrey by the River Sid, Sidford. Devon.

Gold-fringed Mason Bee - Osmia aurulenta

This female was found on the beach at Soar Mill Cove, Devon.

I think this is a male of the same species? This one seen on the cliffs at Eype Mouth, Dorset. 

 

Clover Melitta - Melitta leporina

I think this is a male, seen at Dungy Head, Dorset. 

(Although I may have this totally wrong!)

Smeathman's Furrow Bee - Lassioglossum smeathmanellum

Female on cliffs at Eype Mouth, Dorset. 

A Base-banded Furrow Bee - Lassioglossum sp. 

Nomad Bees

Early Nomad Bee - Nomada leucophthalma (male)

Flavous Nomad Bee - Nomada flava (female)

 

Marsham's Nomad Bee - Nomada marshamella (female)

All three of these were seen on Branscombe undercliffs in early May.

Early Nomad Bee - Nomada leucophthalma (male)

 

Long-horned Nomad Bee - Nomada hirtipes (male)

These two species were seen at Haven Cliffs, Axmouth in mid-May.

Fabricius' Nomad Bee - Nomada fariciana (female) 

Ramshorn Down, Devon, late March. Seen associated with nesting aggregation of Gwynne's Mining Bee - Andrena bicolor

Lathbury's Nomad Bee - Nomada lathburiana (female)

Seen on Aylesbeare Common, Devon in late April 

Wasps

 

Fen Mason Wasp - Odynerus simillimus

 Hickling Broad, late June.

An Ichneumon Wasp - Ichneumon sarcitorius

Haven Cliffs, Axmouth, Devon. 

A very small solitary wasp - Diodontus sp.

Seen at Haven Cliffs, Axmouth in May and June.

Here's one on a fingernail to show just how small it is!

 This one is Entomognathus brevis.

ANTS

 

 

Jet Ants - Lasius fuliginosus

Very shiny jet black ants with distinctive heart shaped head, seen at Ramshorn Down, Devon in early May. 

 

Pavement Ant -Tetramorium caespitum 

These tiny ants caught my eye on Hartland Moor, Dorset.

They were only about 2-3mm in length!