''Andrena'' is a genus of

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

s in the family

Andrenidae The Andrenidae (commonly known as mining bees) are a large, nearly cosmopolitan family of solitary, ground-nesting bees. Most of the family's diversity is located in temperate or arid areas (warm temperate xeric). It includes some enormous gene ...

. With over 1,500 species, it is one of the largest genera of animals. It is a strongly

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

group that is difficult to split into more manageable divisions; currently, ''Andrena'' is organized into 104 subgenera. It is nearly worldwide in distribution, with the notable exceptions of

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. Bees in this genus are commonly known as mining bees due to their ground-nesting lifestyle.

Morphology

''Andrena'' are generally medium-sized bees; body length ranges between 8 and 17 mm with males being smaller and more slender than females. Most are black with white to tan hair, and their wings have either two or three submarginal cells. They carry pollen mainly on femoral scopal hairs, but many ''Andrena'' have an additional propodeal corbicula for carrying some pollen on their thorax.

C. D. Michener Charles Duncan Michener (September 22, 1918 – November 1, 2015) was an American entomologist born in Pasadena, California. He was a leading expert on bees, his ''magnum opus'' being ''The Bees of the World'' published in 2000. __TOC__ Biogra ...

(2007) ''The Bees of the World'', 2nd Edition, Johns Hopkins University Press. They can be distinguished from other bees by the broad velvety areas in between the

compound eye A compound eye is a visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens, and photoreceptor cells which dis ...

s and the

antennal Antennae ( antenna), sometimes referred to as "feelers", are paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. Antennae are connected to the first one or two segments of the arthropod head. They vary widely in form but are always made of one o ...

bases, called facial foveae. Some other genera in the family Andrenidae also have foveae though, so the best identifying feature unique to ''Andrena'' is the presence of a ring of hairs on the underside of their face called the "subgenal coronet".

Life history

All ''Andrena'' are ground nesting, solitary bees. They seem to have a preference for sandy soils. The genus includes no parasitic or social species, though some nest communally or in aggregations. After mating, each female bee digs a burrow, collects pollen to form firm, round provisions for the larvae to eat and places them in cells lined with a shiny secretion. Larvae do not spin a cocoon and they overwinter as adults. They typically have one generation per year and adults are only active for a few weeks. ''Andrena'' nests are attacked by many other insects including brood parasitic bees,

blister beetle Blister beetles are beetles of the family Meloidae, so called for their defensive secretion of a blistering agent, cantharidin. About 7,500 species are known worldwide. Many are conspicuous and some are aposematically colored, announcing their ...

s, various parasitic flies, and

Strepsiptera The Strepsiptera are an order of insects with eleven extant families that include about 600 described species. They are endoparasites in other insects, such as bees, wasps, leafhoppers, silverfish, and cockroaches. Females of most species never ...

. Many ''Andrena'' are host-plant specialists, in which a species visits flowers of only a single or a few closely related plants. Oligolectic ''Andrena'' have specialized on many different plant groups and have morphological and behavioral adaptations that suit them for their pollen preference. For example, all members of the subgenus ''Callandrena'' specialize on pollen from the plant family Asteraceae and have highly branched, fluffy scopal hairs to hold aster pollen. According to Larkin ''et al.'' 2008,

oligolecty The term oligolecty is used in pollination ecology to refer to bees that exhibit a narrow, specialized preference for pollen sources, typically to a single family or genus of flowering plants. The preference may occasionally extend broadly to mult ...

was the basal trait for ''Andrena'' and a generalist diet has evolved multiple times across the genus.

Distribution

''Andrena'' are common in temperate regions of Europe, Asia, and North America and most diverse in areas with a Mediterranean climate. A small amount of species are present in sub-Saharan Africa, and there are none in South America, Australia and nearby islands, or Madagascar.

Species

Partial list of species: *''

Andrena angustitarsata The narrow-legged miner bee (''Andrena angustitarsata'') is a species of miner bee in the family Andrenidae The Andrenidae (commonly known as mining bees) are a large, nearly cosmopolitan family of solitary, ground-nesting bees. Most of the ...

'' * ''

Andrena agilissima ''Andrena agilissima'' is a species of mining bee. They are present in most of Europe, the Near East and North Africa and can be found from April through July. ''Andrena agilissima'' is an ''oligolectic'' species, feeding only on the pollen of a ...

'' *''

Andrena accepta The two-spotted miner bee (''Andrena accepta'') is a species of miner bee in the family Andrenidae The Andrenidae (commonly known as mining bees) are a large, nearly cosmopolitan family of solitary, ground-nesting bees. Most of the family's ...

'' * †'' Andrena antoinei'' Michez & De Meulemeester, 2014, late

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of France *''

Andrena auricoma The golden-haired miner bee (''Andrena auricoma'') is a species of miner bee in the family Andrenidae The Andrenidae (commonly known as mining bees) are a large, nearly cosmopolitan family of solitary, ground-nesting bees. Most of the famil ...

'' *''

Andrena bicolor ''Andrena bicolor'', or Gwynne's mining bee, is a common and widespread Western Palearctic mining bee which is found over most of Europe as well as North Africa and the Middle East and which reaches eastwards into Siberia. Description ''Andren ...

'' Western Palearctic *'' Andrena cineraria'', Europe *'' Andrena fulva'', Europe *'' Andrena hattorfiana'', Europe *'' Andrena haemorrhoa'', Europe *'' Andrena lauracea'', known only from 4 specimens in

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and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

, in the central United States *''

Andrena lagopus ''Andrena lagopus'' is a species of mining bees belonging to the family of Andrenidae. Taxonomy The subgenus '' Biareolina'' Dours, 1873 - created especially for the characteristic of two-celled forewings - included only one species, ''Andrena ...

'', Palearctic *'' Andrena salicifloris'', western North America *''

Andrena milwaukeensis ''Andrena milwaukeensis'', or the Milwaukee miner bee, is a species of miner bee A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its ...

'', United States and Southern Canada *'' Andrena hadfieldi,'' Southwestern United States See comprehensive separate list. Andrena accepta.jpg, ''A. accepta'' Andrena nasonii. saxifrage.jpg, ''A. nasonii'' Early mining bee (Andrena haemorrhoa) Cumnor.jpg, ''A. haemorrhoa'', Early mining bee, Oxfordshire Andrena Subgenus Gonandrena.jpg, ''Andrena'' Subgenus ''Gonandrena'', dogwood andrena Andrena nida, m, face, Montgomery Co 2015-12-01-11.55 (24641006220).jpg, ''A. nida'' Plos One 108865 Fig 6 A Andrena antoinei.png, ''A. antoinei'' fossil

References

External links

Bugguide.net
Andrena, North American species only).

diagnostic photographs and information
Andrena Identification Guide (female)Andrena Identification Guide (male)List of SpeciesWorldwide Species Map
{{Taxonbar, from=Q517165 Andreninae Bee genera Articles containing video clips