Photo: Frank Vassen / CC BY 2.0

Andrena dorsata

Short-fringed Mining Bee

A small mining bee (8–10 mm) with reddish-brown hair on the thorax and a broad, glossy black abdomen with narrow white hair bands. Females have distinctive red-brown hind tibiae and a red-brown scopa. It is a generalist (broadly polylectic) forager visiting Salicaceae, Asteraceae, and Rosaceae. It nests solitarily in self-excavated burrows in sparsely vegetated or bare sandy or loamy soils, often in small aggregations. It is bivoltine in warmer areas, flying from April to June and again from July to August. In Switzerland it is common and widespread from lowlands to montane elevations in gardens, meadows, vineyards, field margins, and ruderal areas. It is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the Swiss Red List.