Violet-winged mining bee
The violet-winged mining bee is a shiny black bee with little tufts of white hair. Its wings shimmer with a bluish shine. It digs its nest in steep earth walls.
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Fun facts
Many females share one nest entrance. From 5 up to 50 bees may use the same doorway.
They do not fight over the doorway. If it is busy, they simply wait their turn.
It carries pollen on hairy brushes on its back legs, but the nectar goes inside its body.
One earth wall in Tuscany, Italy, 2.5 metres high and 6 metres wide, is home to a huge crowd of them.
It usually stays close to home, but it can fly about 300 metres to find flowers.
Most asked questions about Violet-winged mining bee
?What does the violet-winged mining bee eat?
Nectar and pollen from mustard-family flowers, especially wild radish.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Andrena agilissima
- Group
- Bees and bumblebees
- Family
- Andrenidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Andrenidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa
Where the facts come from
- Andrena agilissima (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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