Bumblebees, Cuckoo bees, Flower bees and Honeybees, etc.

All images on this website have been taken in Leicestershire and Rutland by NatureSpot members. We welcome new contributions - just register and use the Submit Records form to post your photos. Click on any image below to visit the species page. The RED / AMBER / GREEN dots indicate how easy it is to identify the species - see our Identification Difficulty page for more information. A coloured rating followed by an exclamation mark denotes that different ID difficulties apply to either males and females or to the larvae - see the species page for more detail.

Bees, Wasps, Ants

Bees, wasps, ants and sawflies are all part of the insect order Hymenoptera.  A typical hymenopteran has 2 pairs of wings which are coupled together with tiny hooks.  Bees, wasps and ants are in the sub-Order Apocrita, with a definite waist between the thorax and abdomen. 

We have placed Sawflies in a separate gallery because they are in the sub-order Symphyta, and considered to be more primitive than other groups of the Hymenoptera. They are very different to bees, wasps and ants - one distinctive feature is that they don't have a waist. 

Whilst everyone is familiar with the social bumblebees and honeybees, these represent only about 10% of all the British bee species. The remainder are solitary bees that don't work together as a single colony to rear their young. 

There is an even greater diversity of wasps. As with the bees, there are a few social wasps that everyone is familiar with, but these represent just a small fraction of all UK wasps. Sand-wasps, Digger-wasps, Mason wasps and Potter wasps and many other species all have solitary life cycles.

Many wasps are parasitoids, attacking the immature stages of other insects and eventually killing their hosts. (A parasite lives within the host, but doesn't kill it).  Examples are Chalcids, Ichneumons and Braconids.  These are generally under-recorded species, and identification often requires the help of an expert in the group.

Ants are all social insects living in large colonies that work collaboratively.  Identification can be difficult, and several are under-recorded in our area.  Gavin Gamble has written some notes on Ant Recording and Identification to guide recorders. 

Many members of this group are difficult or impossible to identify from field images. Make sure that your images include the diagnostic features needed to make a definitive identification or get a recognised expert to confirm the identification.

Identification help

Specialist Facebook groups (recommended): 

Bumblebees, Cuckoo bees, Flower bees and Honeybees, etc.

Bumblebees (some Bombus species) are true social bees, forming large nest colonies set up in spring by fertilised queen bees emerging from hibernation.  The nests are populated mainly by sterile female worker bees, but later on in the season the queen produces eggs that develop into fertile males and new queens.  The three 'castes' of bumblebee - queen, worker, male - usually have different sizes and appearances, which complicates identification to a species - and so it is important to note the caste in the comments box for your record. 

Some species of Bombus are Cuckoo bees, all formerly placed in the Psithyrus genus.  The queens take over the nest of a social bumblebee, killing or subduing the queen and commandeering all the workers.  She pruoduces her own fertile males and new queens, but the job of foraging and caring for the grubs is done by the parasitised workers.  Because of this, female Cuckoo bees don't have the familiar pollen baskets on their hind legs, although in other respects they look very similar. 

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) also show highly developed social behaviour.  The speces is probably an ancient introduction to Britain, possibly originating frm Africa.  Honeybees are essentially a domesticated species; most of the UK population is kept and maintained in hives by beekeepers.  Occasionally they establish nests in hollow trees, for example, and can survive in a feral state in the wild.  Some bee experts have expressed concern that high densities of managed honeybees may adversely affect native wild bees by competing for pollen and nectar or carrying diseases.  See Dave Goulson's presentation 'No more beewashing! Why beekeeping doesn't help conserve bees' on YouTube

Flower bees (Anthrophora) are not true social bees, but live in colonies, sometimes very large.  There are no worker bees.

The Bumblebee Species Guide is a useful summary and guide from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, covering most UK species of Bombus. 

Steve Falk's has produced some crib-sheets for BWARS, covering some of the more difficult species

 

Apidae - bumblebees, etc.