Females about 13–15 mm; males about 12–15 mm.
Fine-art photographic collection
Amegilla garrula
A solitary ground-nesting bee that sometimes sleeps in mixed-sex crowds.
About this species
Amegilla garrula(Rossi, 1790)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Amegilla garrula is a large, fast-flying bee of warm southern European and western Asian habitats. Each female excavates and provisions her own underground nest, yet adults have also been recorded gathering together to sleep.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Apidae · Amegilla
Accepted species or infraspecific taxon in the current GBIF/Catalogue of Life treatment; unsupported details have been omitted rather than inferred. · checked 2026-07-15
Southern Europe to western AsiaBroad documented range and selected occurrence localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Southern and central Europe, the Mediterranean region, the Balkans, Anatolia and parts of western Asia.
Warm, open habitats in southern Europe and neighbouring western Asia, with nests excavated in soil.
Adults are reported mainly from mid-summer into early autumn.
Adults feed on nectar; females collect pollen from several plant families.
Solitary ground-nesting bee.
What makes this species remarkable?
Females dig individual nests in the ground and waterproof each brood cell before filling it with a liquid-rich pollen and nectar provision.
Mixed aggregations of males and females have been observed sleeping together, an unexpected communal pause in an otherwise solitary life cycle.
Its flight season can extend from midsummer into early autumn, when the broad pale abdominal bands make the fast-moving bee look almost electrically striped.