Bee

[Stan]

this is a bee from, I think , the family apidae, to which the honey bee belongs but I don't think this one is a honey, with the black and cream banding of the abdomen it could be colletes halophilus - whatever, it was fast asleep on a leaf at the Hillier gardens

stan

1/80, f8, ISO 800, canon 100 f2.8 LIS macro, hand held

[Columbarius]

Re: Bee

Poor little chap, he was probably near frozen to death. But definitely not a Honey bee.

colletes halophilus

I think that's unlikely, possibly Colletes daviesanus. The sparse thoracic hair is perhaps a good indicator. Halophilus seems to be restricted to a particular East Coast habitat.

[Stan]

Re: Bee

Colletes daviesanus

yes could well be Russell - the one I mentioned was the nearest I could find in Collins - they don't seem to list Colletes daviesanus

Stan

[Columbarius]

Re: Bee

The FSC leaflet on "bees of Britain" is a good starting point. Supplemented by Google if necessary.

[Cyberman]

Re: Bee

Not a bad image at all.

[tesarver]

Re: Bee

Nicely taken Stan

Tom

[tigerburnie]

Re: Bee

[Bill53]

Re: Bee

Superb detail and clarity Stan.

Bill.

[Stan]

Re: Bee

Thanks guys

Stan

[Tigger]

Re: Bee

excellent work Stan

[Stan]

Re: Bee

thanks for looking Ian

Stan

[Richard W]

Re: Bee

Not Colletes, far too early in the year, C. daviesianus flies from mid-June to mid-September. Most bees out this early are Andrena.
As with most insects, the internet is full of incorrectly identified photos. For bees, the only really reliable site is the Bees, wasps and ants recording scheme site. http://www.bwars.com/. Go to Menu : Bees, wasps and ants/Species/A - Z of species. You may be amazed to see how many there are and how closely they resemble each other. But you can be sure the photos here are correct.
There has recently been published a "field guide" to bees, but that's a bit of a misnomer as most species can't be identified in the field, the key characters generally require examination under a microscope.
Unfortunately, general insect books only include a few species and neglect to say that there may be many others which look virtually the same.

[Columbarius]

Re: Bee

Agree with you Richard that BWARS in an authoritative site, but unfortunately it's one where you need to know the answer before you can ask the question.

[Richard W]

Re: Bee

Yes, but if you think you know what you might have, it's a good idea to check with a site like that as it gives lots of other information for many species, such as flight period and distribution, which can be useful to check, as well as plenty of photos for comparison.