Europe and western Asia
Fine-art photographic collection
Nomada flava
A large wasp-mimicking bee that follows mining bees home and replaces their offspring with its own.
About this species
Flavous Nomad Bee
Nomada flavaPanzer, 1798
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Nomada flava is one of the larger European nomad bees. It is a cleptoparasite of substantial Andrena mining bees and spends its adult life locating host nesting areas rather than building a nest of its own.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Apidae · Nomada
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Europe and western AsiaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Woodland rides, hedgerows, gardens and banks where its Andrena hosts nest.
Adults fly mainly in spring, with timing matched to host activity.
Adults drink nectar; larvae consume host pollen provisions.
Solitary cleptoparasite.
What makes this species remarkable?
Its black-and-yellow body is an effective wasp imitation, yet it is a bee that has abandoned pollen collection and nest construction entirely.
A female patrols mining-bee aggregations, waits for a host to leave and enters the burrow to conceal an egg in a brood cell.
The newly hatched cuckoo larva destroys the host’s developing offspring before monopolising the carefully gathered pollen and nectar.