INVERTEBRATE ALERT
This blog provides an informal forum for terrestrial invertebrate watchers to post recent sightings of interesting observations in the southern Vancouver Island region. Please send your sightings by email to Jeremy Tatum (tatumjb352@gmail.com). Be sure to include your name, phone number, the species name (common or scientific) of the invertebrate you saw, location, date, and number of individuals. If you have a photograph you are willing to share, please send it along. Click on the title above for an index of past sightings.The index is updated most days.

2022 March31

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.