Females are commonly about 12–15 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Megachile maritima
A coastal bee that excavates its own burrow, then wallpapers every nursery with pieces of living leaf.
About this species
Coast Leafcutter Bee
Megachile maritima(Kirby, 1802)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Megachile maritima is a large European leafcutter bee associated especially with dunes and sandy coasts. Females dig nests in the ground and construct a sequence of leaf-lined brood cells.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Megachilidae · Megachile
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Europe and temperate western AsiaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Europe and temperate western Asia
Coastal dunes, sandy heath and warm inland sites with loose soil and abundant flowers.
Adults fly in summer; males patrol nesting and feeding areas.
Pollen and nectar from a broad range of flowers.
Solitary, often nesting in aggregations.
What makes this species remarkable?
Unlike many leafcutters that use ready-made holes, the female excavates a substantial tunnel in sand before carrying in dozens of precisely cut leaf pieces.
Each brood cell is a flexible green capsule assembled from overlapping leaf discs, filled with pollen and nectar, given one egg and sealed from the next cell.
Males carry conspicuously expanded, pale-haired front feet that are displayed and used during courtship — a specialised structure found only in the male.