Adults are only about 4–6 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Lasioglossum politum
One of Europe’s smallest social bees, building miniature societies in sun-baked soil.
About this species
Lasioglossum politum(Schenck, 1853)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Lasioglossum politum is a minute metallic bee of warm parts of Europe and western Asia. It nests in bare sandy or loess soil and can form primitively eusocial colonies with a reproductive female and smaller workers.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Halictidae · Lasioglossum
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Southern and central Europe east into western AsiaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Southern and central Europe east into western Asia
Warm sandy banks, loess cliffs, dry grassland and sparsely vegetated ground.
Spring foundresses are followed by summer workers and later males and reproductive females.
Pollen and nectar from small open flowers.
Usually primitively eusocial; many separate nests may form dense aggregations.
What makes this species remarkable?
A fertilised female can found a nest alone, then produce a first brood of smaller daughters that work instead of immediately reproducing.
The entire worker society operates at a body length of only a few millimetres — the queen, tunnels, brood cells and division of labour all compressed into a patch of soil.
Huge nesting aggregations may contain thousands of separate nest entrances, yet each colony remains an independent family rather than merging into a supercolony.
Sources and scientific references
- GBIF — taxon record/search for Lasioglossum politum
- Catalogue of Life — taxon search for Lasioglossum politum
- Peer-reviewed review of Lasioglossum politum nesting and sociality
- Peer-reviewed study of nesting aggregations and conservation
- Chemical ecology study involving Lasioglossum politum and its cuckoo bee