HYMENOPTERA > APOCRITA | Aculeata > APOIDEA > Colletidae

This early spring-flying species is our largest Colletes. It is also the most distinctive, as it is the only one of the nine British species without a proper banded abdomen and, is therefore, the easiest to identify. In fact, the dark-haired females are more likely to be confused with an oversized Andrena scotica than another Colletes. The smaller, slimmer, pale-haired furry males may look as though they have a banded abdomen in certain light, but on closer inspection you can see they're rings of longer hairs, not the dense adpressed whitish hairs that are seen on other male Colletes. Formerly regarded as a pretty rare species that was only likely to be found on coastal dunes along the west coast from South Wales to Cumbria, Colletes cunicularius is now being recorded from various locations across the south. And, these are not always coastal, as some sites such as the area where I found them, are a few miles inland. Unfortunately, I had the wrong lens with me at the time as I was there in search of lichen and, consequently, only took this single shot. However, now I know the area, I'll make sure that I return next year as the large numbers of bees present suggested more than one colony. The typical flight season is from early March to early May, with some females persisting a little longer.