''Colletes cunicularius'', the vernal colletes or spring mining bee, is a species of solitary bee from the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Colletidae The Colletidae are a family of bees, and are often referred to collectively as plasterer bees or polyester bees, due to the method of smoothing the walls of their nest cells with secretions applied with their mouthparts; these secretions dry int ...

which is widespread in the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

from Britain to the Pacific Ocean which nests in areas of open, sandy soil.

Description

''Colletes cinicularius'' is a large species of ''Colletes'' which has an unbanded, hairy, black

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...

which contrasts with the

thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...

which is covered with brown hair. The most likely confusion species in Britain is '' Andrena scotica'' as this also has an early flight period but ''C. cunicularius'' is larger than ''A.scotica'' with longer antennae and does not have a fovea on the face. The males are smaller and paler than the females.

Distribution

''Colletes cunicularius'' is widespread in the Palearactic from Great Britain in the west to the Pacific coasts of Siberia and China in the east. In Great Britain it was restricted to the western coastal areas between south Wales and

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

but it has been expanding its range inland. it had recently colonised

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

from the nearby continent and this may also be the source of ''Colletes cunicularius'' which have begun to breed in southern England.

Habitat and ecology

''Colletes cunicularius'' is a species associated with sparsely vegetated sandy areas, in Britain it was associated with large, mature coastal sand dunes which were near to areas where creeping willow (''

Salix repens ''Salix repens'', the creeping willow, is a small, shrubby species of willow in the family Salicaceae, growing up to 1.5metres in height. Found amongst sand dunes and heathlands, it is a polymorphic species, with a wide range of variants. In ...

'') grows. Bees from Europe tended to be associated with alluvial area where rivers in flood has removed most of the vegetation and in both Britain and Europe this species has colonised man-made habitats such as sand pits. The British population was restricted to areas of dunes where it nests in erosion hollows within old dunes. It is univoltine, i.e. there is one generation per year, and it has a flight period of March to May, sometimes into June, which is earlier than most other species of ''Colletes''. ''C. cunicularius'' forages from a wide variety of flowers but in Great Britain, the most important is creeping willow with other species of ''

Salix Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

'' being used if creeping willow is not present. Elsewhere it is much more catholic in the plants it forages from, although in Finland it has also been reported as mainly specialising on willows while in Italy at was recorded as specialising in

pollinating Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...

species in the family

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

. The male ''C. cunicularius'' are the only species which pollinate two species of sexually deceptive orchids which mimic females bees '' Ophrys exaltata'' and ''

Ophrys arachntiiformis The genus ''Ophrys'' is a large group of orchids from the alliance Orchis in the subtribe Orchidinae. They are widespread across much of Europe, North Africa, Caucasus, the Canary Islands, and the Middle East as far east as Turkmenistan. These p ...

'', although they have been recorded as attempting to pseudocopulating with other species in the genus ''

Ophrys The genus ''Ophrys'' is a large group of orchids from the alliance Orchis in the subtribe Orchidinae. They are widespread across much of Europe, North Africa, Caucasus, the Canary Islands, and the Middle East as far east as Turkmenistan. These p ...

''. To create the nest the female excavates a tunnel into the sand of around in length which is slightly sloping and has a number of side tunnels towards the deepest part of the tunnel each with a cell at the end. The adult males emerge from the upper cells ''en masse'' a day before the females, normally in the afternoon. The brood cells are lined with a cellophane-like membrane that is waterproof, has antifungal properties, and is thought to aid in the maintenance of the appropriate level of humidity as the bee's larvae develop. The membrane is made from a liquid secreted by the

Dufour's gland Dufour's gland is an abdominal gland of certain insects, part of the anatomy of the ovipositor or sting apparatus in female members of Apocrita. The diversification of Hymenoptera took place in the Cretaceous and the gland may have developed at a ...

and the female bee uses her short, two-pronged tongue like a paintbrush to smear the oily secretion around the walls of the cells, it then dries into the clear membrane. The females often nest together in large, and noisy, aggregations and when the females first emerge from their cells "mating balls" can be formed as many males try to mate with a single newly emerged female. In Britain this species has no known parasites but on continental Europe the cuckoo bee ''

Sphecodes albilabris ''Sphecodes albilabris'' is a solitary parasitic bee that is endemic to Central and Western Europe. It also occurs in North Africa and is thought to have been introduced to the United States and Australia by accident. Description The length of t ...

'' is a

cleptoparasite Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct feeding, which can mean when foo ...

of this species. and the

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 ...

Apalus bimaculatus ''Apalus bimaculatus'', the early blister beetle, is a species of blister beetle from the family Meloidae. It is the type species of the genus '' Apalus''. Description This species is a long predominantly black beetle which has distinctive ye ...

'' is also recorded as a nest parasite.

Subspecies

The population of ''C. cunicularius'' in western Britain is morphologically and biologically distinct from the continental populations and have been given subspecific status as ''C. c. celticus''. The chemistry of the secretions of the Dufour's gland have also now been shown to be distinctive in the British subspecies too.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1472116 Colletidae Hymenoptera of Europe Bees described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN