Widely recorded across Europe, with local variation in abundance and northern or southern range limits.
Fine-art photographic collection
Andrena haemorrhoa
An early-spring mining bee with a cuckoo specialist waiting outside its burrow.
About this species
Early Mining Bee
Andrena haemorrhoa(Fabricius, 1781)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Andrena haemorrhoa is among the first conspicuous mining bees of spring. Females excavate nests in sunny ground, while the fork-jawed nomad bee Nomada ruficornis patrols those same entrances and tries to replace the host's offspring.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Andrenidae · Andrena
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
EuropeBroad documented range and selected occurrence localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Open or semi-open flower-rich habitat with suitable soil for nesting; exact preferences vary across the species range.
Seasonal and diurnal; the precise flight period varies with latitude and climate.
Adults take nectar; females collect pollen to provision brood cells.
Solitary ground-nesting bee; several females may nest close together.
What makes this species remarkable?
A female seals a sequence of underground brood cells with pollen and nectar, then leaves each larva to complete development without further care.
Its specialist cuckoo bee enters while the owner is away; the parasite's larva destroys the host egg or young larva and consumes the stored food.
The female's bright orange-red tail is so concentrated at the abdominal tip that it can remain visible even when the rest of the bee is buried in a flower.