2022 March 31

     Rosemary Jorna photographed some bees from a rock in her Kemp Lake garden on March 29.  Lincoln Best writes:

They are males and females of Andrena (Trachandrena). I cannot determine the species from the photos and I cannot tell if they represent one or two different species. There are several Trachandrena on the Island and some are difficult to distinguish without a microscope. Beautiful images,

Andrena (Trachandrena) sp.  (Hym.: Andrenidae)   Rosemary Jorna

 

Andrena (Trachandrena) sp.  (Hym.: Andrenidae)   Rosemary Jorna

 

Andrena (Trachandrena) sp.  (Hym.: Andrenidae)   Rosemary Jorna

 

Andrena (Trachandrena) sp.  (Hym.: Andrenidae)   Rosemary Jorna

 

Andrena (Trachandrena) sp.  (Hym.: Andrenidae)   Rosemary Jorna

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  The Andrenidae nest in the ground and are known as mining bees.  For those not familiar with the finer points of scientific nomenclature,  Andrena is the genus, beginning with a capital letter, and set in italics.  When you see a name in parentheses following the genus name, also beginning with a capital letter, and set in italics, in this case Trachandrena, this refers to the subgenus. Thus, Trachandrena is a subgenus within the genus Andrena.