Black mud bee

Megachile parietina

The black mud bee is a wild bee from Europe. It lives alone, not in a hive with other bees.

Lives in

Central and eastern Europe, and Malta

Top speed

about 22 km/h (14 mph)

Can it hurt you?

Can sting

What does it eat?

It drinks nectar from flowers and collects pollen to feed its babies.

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

Black mud bee about 22 km/h (14 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Its nests were found on Malta for the first time in 2024: four nests and two mother bees.

It may help pollinate a rare orchid that grows only on the Maltese Islands.

Scientists first described it more than 200 years ago, in 1785.

you asked

?Where does the black mud bee live?

In central and eastern Europe, and on the island of Malta.

Megachile parietina (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 Gideon Pisanty ( Gidip ). CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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