The hairy-footed flower bee (''Anthophora plumipes'') is a species of bee belonging to the family

Apidae Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the most commonly seen bees, including bumblebees and honey bees, but also includes stingless bees (also used for ...

Distribution

These bees are widespread in most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

from Britain to China and Japan, the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

and in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. In the 20th century, the species was introduced to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The species was spotted for the first time in Ireland in April 2022.

Habitat

The ''hairy-footed flower bees'' commonly inhabit gardens, open woodland, and coastal sites.BWARS- Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society, 2013. Anthophora plumipes
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Description

The adults of ''Anthophora plumipes'' grow up to long. There are numerous color forms over the species' geographic range, which have resulted in this species being described under many different names. This species shows an evident

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

. The body is always densely hairy. Males have most often bright reddish brown or gray hair, while females are usually all black or dark brown. Furthermore, the females show reddish orange scopal hairs on the hind tibia. The middle legs of males are very elongated. Males are also distinguished from females by having long hairs on its mid tarsi and the

integument In biology, an integument is the tissue surrounding an organism's body or an organ within, such as skin, a husk, shell, germ or rind. Etymology The term is derived from ''integumentum'', which is Latin for "a covering". In a transferred, or ...

of the lower face yellow or cream coloured, rather than black. The long tufts of black hairs on the tarsi (hence the Latin word ''plumipes'') are used as a visual signal during mating.

Biology

''Anthophora plumipes'' is a

univoltine 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. ...

species. These bees can be encountered from March to June, feeding and collecting pollen and nectar on early flowering plants, mainly on (

Primulaceae The Primulaceae , commonly known as the primrose family (but not related to the Onagraceae, evening primrose family), are a family (biology), family of Herbaceous plant, herbaceous and woody flowering plants including some favourite garden plants ...

species (''

Primula veris ''Primula veris'', the cowslip, common cowslip, or cowslip primrose ( syn. ''Primula officinalis'' ), is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the primrose family Primulaceae. The species is native throughout most of temperate Europe and w ...

'', '' Primula acaulis'', etc.),

Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the order ...

species (''

Pulmonaria officinalis ''Pulmonaria officinalis'', common names lungwort, common lungwort, Mary's tears or Our Lady's milk drops, is a herbaceous rhizomatous evergreen perennial plant of the genus ''Pulmonaria'', belonging to the family Boraginaceae. Etymology The ge ...

'', ''

Borago officinalis Borage ( or ; ''Borago officinalis''), also known as starflower, is an annual herb in the flowering plant family Boraginaceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region, and has naturalized in many other locales. It grows satisfactorily in gard ...

'', etc.),

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

species (''

Lamium purpureum ''Lamium purpureum'', known as red dead-nettle, purple dead-nettle, or purple archangel, is an annual herbaceous flowering plant native to Europe and Asia. Varieties: * ''Lamium purpureum'' var. ''hybridum'' (Vill.) Vill. (synonym: ''Lamium hybr ...

'') and

Fumariaceae Fumarioideae is a subfamily of the family Papaveraceae (the poppy family). It was formerly treated as a separate family, the Fumariaceae (the fumitory, fumewort or bleeding-heart family). It consists of about 575 species of herbaceous plants in 2 ...

(''

Corydalis ''Corydalis'' (from Greek ''korydalís'' "crested lark") is a genus of about 470 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the family Papaveraceae, native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere and the high mountains of tropical eastern ...

'' spp.). These

solitary 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 monophyletic lineage within the superfami ...

s do not build colonies. The females usually make nests in

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

slopes and steep walls of mud, where they excavate cells, which they fill with

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

and

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

(as food for the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e), laying a single egg on each pollen mass.

Gallery

File:Anthophora plumipes02.jpg, Male, dorsal view File:Anthophora plumipies. female - Flickr - gailhampshire.jpg, Female File: Anthophora plumipes, M, Head, N.A 2013-04-19-14.28.22 ZS PMax (8667378432).jpg , Head of a male File:Anthophora plumipes, F, Head, N.A 2013-04-19-14.14.52 ZS PMax (8667378672).jpg, Head of a female

Bibliography

* Michener C.D.
The Bees of the World
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, . *Stone G.N, Female foraging responses to sexual harassment in the solitary bee Anthophora plumipes, in Anim. Behav. 1995; 50: 405–412. *Heiko Bellmann, Guide des abeilles, bourdons, guêpes et fourmis d'Europe, Delachaux et Niestlé, 1999, 336 p.

References

External links

Les abeilles solitaires
* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1500676 Apinae Hymenoptera of Africa Hymenoptera of Asia Hymenoptera of Europe Insects described in 1772 Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas