Andrena

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{{Clarify|reason=What's a submarginal cell?|date=November 2021}}. 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 (2007) The Bees of the World, 2nd Edition, Johns Hopkins University Press.{{pn|date=September 2022}} They can be distinguished from other bees by the broad velvety areas in between the compound eyes and the antennal 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".

File:Andrena-crataegi,-female,-face 2012-08-07-18.55.32-ZS-PMax (7741713690).jpg

File:Andrena vaga (Burgwald).ogv

File:Holes from Mining Bees (Andrenidae).jpg from mining bee nests]]

All Andrena are ground nesting, solitary bees. They seem to have a preference for sandy soils.{{cite journal |last1=Cane |first1=James H. |title=Soils of Ground-Nesting Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea): Texture, Moisture, Cell Depth and Climate |journal=Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society |date=1991 |volume=64 |issue=4 |pages=406–413 |jstor=25085307 |url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/bee_lab_bu/245/ |access-date=10 September 2022 |archive-date=22 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522033103/https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/bee_lab_bu/245/ |url-status=live }} The genus includes no parasitic or social species, though some nest communally or in aggregations. After mating, each female bee digs a burrow, excavating a series of small chambers called "cells", lined with a shiny secretion, which she provisions one at a time with nectar and pollen to form firm, round pollen masses for the larvae to eat. Soil from the excavation process forms a small tumulus around the nest entrance.{{Cite journal|title = The Biology and External Morphology of Bees with a Synopsis of the Genera of Northwestern America|last = Stephen|first = W.P.|date = 1969|journal = Agricultural Experiment Station}} 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 beetles, various parasitic flies, and Strepsiptera.{{Cite book|last1=Danforth|first1=Bryan N.|title=The Solitary Bees: Biology, Evolution, Conservation|last2=Minckley|first2=Robert L.|last3=Neff|first3=John L.|last4=Fawcett|first4=Frances|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2019|isbn=978-0-691-18932-1|location=Princeton, New Jersey}}

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.{{cite journal |last1=LaBerge |first1=Wallace |title=A Revision of the Bees of the GenusAndrena of the Western Hemisphere.Part I. Callandrena.(Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) |journal=Bulletin of the University of Nebraska State Museum |date=1967 |volume=7 |url=https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/museumbulletin/53/ }} According to Larkin et al. 2008, oligolecty was the basal trait for Andrena and a generalist diet has evolved multiple times across the genus.{{cite journal |last1=Larkin |first1=Leah L. |last2=Neff |first2=John L. |last3=Simpson |first3=Beryl B. |title=The evolution of a pollen diet: Host choice and diet breadth of Andrena bees (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) |journal=Apidologie |date=January 2008 |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=133–145 |doi=10.1051/apido:2007064 |s2cid=35411887 |doi-access=free }}

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.

Partial list of species:

• Andrena angustitarsata
• Andrena agilissima
• Andrena accepta
• Andrena androfovea, Southwestern United States
• †Andrena antoinei Michez & De Meulemeester, 2014,{{cite journal |last1=Dehon |first1=Manuel |last2=Michez |first2=Denis |last3=Nel |first3=André |last4=Engel |first4=Michael S. |last5=De Meulemeester |first5=Thibaut |title=Wing Shape of Four New Bee Fossils (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) Provides Insights to Bee Evolution |journal=PLOS ONE |date=29 October 2014 |volume=9 |issue=10 |pages=e108865 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0108865 |pmid=25354170 |pmc=4212905 |bibcode= 2014PLoSO...9j8865D |doi-access= free }} late Oligocene of France
• Andrena auricoma
• Andrena barbilabris, Europe, Northern Asia and North America
• Andrena bicolor, Western Palearctic
• Andrena carbonaria
• Andrena cineraria, Europe
• Andrena flavipes, Europe and central Asia{{cite book|title=Fauna Helvetica 20: Apidae 5|first1=Felix|last1=Amiet|first2=Mike|last2=Herrmann|first3=Andreas|last3=Müller|first4=Rainer|last4=Neumeyer|publisher=Centre Suisse de Cartographie de la Faune (Swiss Centre for Wildlife Mapping)|lang=fr|year=2007|page=169|isbn=9782884140324|url=https://docplayer.org/194005471-Apidae-5-fauna-helvetica-20.html}}
• Andrena fulva, Europe
• Andrena ghisbaini, Europe (endemic to southern Spain)
• Andrena hattorfiana, Europe
• Andrena haemorrhoa, Europe
• Andrena lauracea, known only from 4 specimens in Texas and Illinois, in the central United States
• Andrena lagopus, Palearctic
• Andrena salicifloris, western North America
• Andrena milwaukeensis, 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

{{Reflist}}

• [http://bugguide.net/node/view/22574 Bugguide.net] Andrena, North American species only).
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927203458/http://www.cirrusimage.com/bees_Andrenidae_A_miserabilis.htm Andrena miserabilis] diagnostic photographs and information
• [http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Andrena_female Andrena Identification Guide (female)]
• [http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Andrena_male Andrena Identification Guide (male)]
• [http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Andrena List of Species]
• [http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20m?kind=Andrena_ Worldwide Species Map]

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Category:Bee genera

Category:Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius

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