Southern and central Europe, the Mediterranean region, the Balkans, Anatolia and parts of western Asia.
Fine-art photographic collection
Anthophora aestivalis
A fast-flying bee that excavates nursery chambers directly into vertical earth walls.
About this species
Anthophora aestivalis(Panzer, 1801)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Anthophora aestivalis is a large solitary bee of warm European and western Asian habitats. Females carve nest tunnels into firm soil banks and provision brood cells largely with pollen from legumes.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Apidae · Anthophora
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.
Flower-rich open habitat with suitable nesting substrate.
Diurnal and seasonal.
Adults take nectar; females collect pollen to provision brood cells.
Solitary, sometimes nesting in aggregations.
What makes this species remarkable?
A female can cut a tunnel into a near-vertical loess or clay face, turning a wall too steep for most ground nesters into a protected nursery.
Its pollen gathering is strongly associated with legumes, and the long tongue reaches nectar in flowers that defeat many shorter-tongued bees.
The cuckoo bee Melecta luctuosa enters the nest and leaves an egg whose larva consumes the provision intended for Anthophora offspring.