| Nomada marshamella | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Genus: | Nomada |
| Species: | N. marshamella |
| Binomial name | |
| Nomada marshamella (Kirby, 1802) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Nomada marshamella, Marsham's nomad bee, is a species of Palearctic cuckoo bee which appears to be a wasp mimic and which is cleptoparasite on the mining bees of the genus Andrena , especially A. scotica and A. trimmerana .
Nomada marshamella is a large (10-13mm) [1] black and yellow nomad bee with a rather wasp like shape. [2] It has well separated yellow spots on the second tergite with no reddish fringes on the tergites which are seen in similar species. The sternites are mostly black and yellow in colour with little or no red, the tegulae are orange. Male N. marshamella are difficult to identify when compared to N. fulvicornis but the yellow markings on the eye and tergite 1 are less extensive, there is some brown on the tegulae and it has longer antennae. [3] It has a black head which is marked with yellow in males, which are smaller than the females. [1]
Nomada marshamella is endemic to the western Palearctic ecozone from Britain and Ireland in the west east to Turkey, north to southern Finland and on the islands of Corsica and Malta. [4]
Nomada marshamella is found in a wide variety of habitats, occurring both in coastal and inland areas, wherever its host mining bees can be found. Has been recorded with some regularity in suburban habitats such as gardens. [4]
Nomada marshamella is most frequently a univoltine species, but where the host used is the bivoltine Andrena trimmerana, then N. marshamella will also be bivoltine. [3] The univoltine form is associated primarily with Andrena scotica , and sometimes A. nigroaenea , and it flies from early April to late June while the bivoltine form's normal host is A. trimmerana, and sometimes late nesting A. nigroaenae flying from late June into September. [4] N. marshamella is known to cleptoparasitise the nests of A. scotica and they have been recovered from such nests. It is also thought that N.marshamella may parasitise Andrena ferox , A. stragulata , A. trimmerana, A. nigroaenea and A. haemorrhoa , in the Czech Republic A. rosae has also been recorded as a host of N. marshamella. [4] [1] A. trimmerana has only been recorded as a host of this species in England. [1]
It is a highly polylectic species of bee in which the adults exploit a wide variety of flowers at different levels from ground to canopy for their nectar. [4]
Apparently both univoltine and bivoltine, depending on the host Andrena which is attacked. The univoltine form is apparently associated with A. carantonica and A. nigroaenea and flies in the spring and early summer from early April to late June. The host of the bivoltine form is not known for certain but it may attack both broods of A. trimmerana and late nesting A. carantonica and A. nigroaenea, both the latter species having a single, greatly extended flight period. This species flies from April to June and again from late June to the beginning of September. N. marshamella is certainly more numerous in the spring and early summer than later in the year. [4]
Volucella pellucens, the pellucid fly, is a hoverfly.
Philanthus triangulum, commonly known as the European beewolf, bee-killer wasp or the bee-eating philanthus, is a solitary wasp that lives in the Western Palearctic and Afrotropics. Although the adults of the species are herbivores, the species derives its name from the behaviour of the inseminated females, who hunt Western honey bees. The female places several of its paralysed prey together with an egg in a small underground chamber, to serve as food for the wasp larvae. All members of the genus Philanthus hunt various species of bees, but P. triangulum is apparently the only one that specialises in Western honey bees.
Voltinism is a term used in biology to indicate the number of broods or generations of an organism in a year. The term is most often applied to insects, and is particularly in use in sericulture, where silkworm varieties vary in their voltinism.
With over 850 species, the genus Nomada is one of the largest genera in the family Apidae, and the largest genus of kleptoparasitic "cuckoo bees." Kleptoparasitic bees are so named because they enter the nests of a host and lay eggs there, stealing resources that the host has already collected. The name "Nomada" is derived from the Greek word nomas (νομάς), meaning "roaming" or "wandering."
Philanthus gibbosus, which is commonly referred to as a beewolf due to its predation practices, is a species of bee-hunting wasp and is the most common and widespread member of the genus in North America. P. gibbosus is of the order Hymenoptera and the genus Philanthus. It is native to the Midwestern United States and the western Appalachians. P. gibbosus are often observed to visit flowers and other plants in search of insect prey to feed their young. The prey that P. gibbosus catches is then coated in a layer of pollen and fed to the young wasps.
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 few genera of Cruciferous vegetables.
Eucera is a genus of bees in the family Apidae, subfamily Apinae, and tribe Eucerini – the long-horned bees.
Ancistrocerus nigricornis is a species of potter wasp.
Cerceris rybyensis, the ornate tailed digger wasp, is a Palearctic species of solitary wasp from the family Crabronidae which specialised in hunting small to medium-sized mining bees. It is the type species of the genus Cerceris and was named as Sphex rybyensis by Carl Linnaeus in 1771.
Andrena scotica, the chocolate mining bee or hawthorn bee, is a species of mining bee from the family Andrenidae. It occurs in western Europe and is one of the most frequently encountered mining bees found in Great Britain, where it had been previously misidentified as Andrena carantonica.
Andrena trimmerana, Trimmer's mining bee, is a species of mining bee from the family Andrenidae. It occurs in the western Palearctic but its true status in some areas is muddled due to issues of taxonomy and misidentification.
Andrena vaga, the grey-backed mining bee, is a species of solitary bee which is found in most of Europe but which is very rare in Great Britain, where it may be recolonizing in the south-east after previously being extirpated. It specialises in feeding on the pollen of willows.
The bearded miner bee is a species of miner bee in the family Andrenidae. It is found in Europe & Northern Asia and North America. Other common names include the long-lipped andrena and the sandpit mining bee.
Halictus confusus, the southern bronze furrow bee or confused sweat bee, is a species of sweat bee in the family Halictidae. It is a primitively eusocial bee species found in open habitats in Eurasia and North America.
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.
Trichrysis cyanea is a species of cuckoo wasps, insects in the family Chrysididae.
The tormentil mining bee is a species of mining bee from the family Andrenidae which has a Palearctic distribution.
Monosapyga clavicornis is a hymenopteran from the family Sapygidae. The species is common and not endangered.