Europe and western Asia.
Fine-art photographic collection
Chelostoma florisomne
A bee so dependent on buttercups that males sleep clamped inside the flowers.
About this species
Large Scissor Bee
Chelostoma florisomne(Linnaeus, 1758)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
The large scissor bee is a narrow pollen specialist whose life is synchronised with buttercups. Females nest in existing beetle holes and hollow stems, constructing a linear series of cells behind partitions of mud and sand.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Megachilidae · Chelostoma
Accepted species; English common name follows established UK recording-scheme usage. · checked 2026-07-15
Europe and western AsiaBroad documented range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Gardens, woodland edges and meadows with buttercups and existing cavities for nests.
Adults are mainly active in late spring and early summer.
Females collect pollen predominantly from buttercups.
Solitary cavity-nesting bee.
What makes this species remarkable?
Females collect pollen almost exclusively from buttercups, making the bee’s entire breeding season dependent on one group of flowers.
Males often spend the night gripping the inside of a closed buttercup flower with their large mandibles.
The female builds a row of brood cells in an old wood-boring beetle tunnel and seals each compartment with mud mixed with sand grains.