Europe, North Africa and western Asia
Fine-art photographic collection
Nomada goodeniana
A striking yellow cuckoo bee that times its raids to the nesting cycle of large Andrena hosts.
About this species
Gooden's Nomad Bee
Nomada goodeniana(Kirby, 1802)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Nomada goodeniana is a large and conspicuous cleptoparasitic bee. Females search for nests of Andrena species such as A. nigroaenea and A. nitida, inserting eggs into host brood cells rather than collecting pollen themselves.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Hymenoptera · Apidae · Nomada
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
Europe, North Africa and western AsiaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
Open woodland, grassland, gardens and bare banks supporting host mining bees.
Spring-flying, with a later partial generation where hosts produce a second brood.
Adults take nectar; larvae consume pollen provisions stolen from host brood cells.
Solitary cleptoparasite.
What makes this species remarkable?
It is among the largest British nomad bees and uses bold black-and-yellow markings to resemble a stinging social wasp.
The parasite can exploit several related Andrena hosts, allowing it to track large mining-bee nesting aggregations across varied habitats.
After killing the host egg, its larva completes development entirely on food gathered by a different species and never meets its own mother.
More photographs
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