Southern and central Europe, extending into Anatolia, the Caucasus and parts of North Africa; historically recorded in south-east England.
Fine-art photographic collection
Andrena polita
A mining bee so committed to yellow composites that its British population vanished with its habitat.
About this species
Maidstone Mining Bee
Andrena politaSmith, 1847
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Andrena polita is a warm-climate European mining bee specialised on the daisy family. Females nest in sun-warmed bare ground and collect pollen especially from chicories, hawkweeds, hawkbits and cat's-ears.
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
Southern and central EuropeBroad documented range and selected occurrence localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Warm open habitats, including calcareous grassland and bare ground suitable for nesting.
One main generation, with adults reported from late spring into summer.
Females collect pollen especially from Asteraceae in published European accounts.
Solitary ground-nesting bee; nests may occur in small aggregations.
What makes this species remarkable?
Females are pollen specialists on Asteraceae, repeatedly returning to yellow composite flowers rather than gathering indiscriminately from the surrounding flora.
Its nests are attacked by the cuckoo bee Nomada integra, whose offspring consumes both the host larva and the pollen store prepared for it.
Britain's last confirmed records came from only two Kent chalk sites, and the species has not been seen there since 1934.