(Andrena nivalis)
Conservation • Description • Habitat • Biology • Distribution • Taxonomy
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Description |
Snowy mining bee is a common, medium-sized, solitary, ground nesting bee. It occurs in the United States from Maine to Maryland, west to Minnesota and Iowa, south along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia, and throughout the country west of the Great Plains. It occurs across southern Canada from Nova Scotia to British Columbia. Adults are active from early May through mid-July. They are generalist pollen collectors, collecting pollen from a wide variety of flowers without any apparent preference. Snowy mining bee is unusually variable in both size and coloration, and that has resulted in it being described several times with different scientific names. The variations follow three general patterns. Pale individuals have mostly pale yellowish-brown hairs. Dark individuals have mostly dark brown to black hairs. Intermediate individuals have more or less pale hairs on the head and face, and pale pollen-collecting hairs (scopa) on the fourth segment (tibia) of the hind legs. The description that follows is of pale individuals. Females are 7⁄16″ to ⅝″ (11 to 15 mm) in length. The body is black. On the female, the head is black. The outer (apical) half of the jaws (mandibles) are often tinged with red. There are two large compound eyes on the sides of the head and three simple eyes (ocelli) in a triangle on top of the head. The compound eyes are distinctly vertical. The inner margins are straight up and down and close to parallel. Next to the inner margin of each compound eye there is a slight depression (fovea) out of which emerges a dense band of pale hairs. The foveae are broad and shallow. The tongue is short and pointed. The antennae have 12 segments: a long segment at the base (scape), a short connecting segment (pedicel), and a whip-like third section (flagellum) with 10 segments (flagellomeres). Flagellomeres 3 through 10 are dark reddish brown on the underside. There are two grooves (subantennal sutures) below the base of each antenna, though these cannot be seen without careful handling and possibly also a microscope. The plate on the face (clypeus) above the upper lip is black. The tongue is short and pointed. The thorax is black. The hairs on the thorax are occasionally orangish red. The abdomen has 6 segments (tergites). The first tergite (T1) has white hairs. T2 has pale hairs sometimes intermixed with brown hairs. T4 has entirely brown hairs. T5 and 6 have dark brown hairs. The forewings are clear and moderately tinged blackish. The marginal cell is relatively long and is pointed (narrowly rounded) at the tip. There are three submarginal cells. The second submarginal cell is large and almost rectangular. The first m-cu vein meets the second submarginal cell at about the middle of the cell. The basal vein is nearly straight. The broad lobe at the base of the hindwing (jugal lobe) is longer than the narrow cell adjacent to it (submedian cell). At the base of each hind leg on the female there is a tuft of long, thick, pollen-collecting hairs (scopa). Males are a little smaller, ⅜″ to ½″ (9 to 12 mm) in length. The antennae have 13 segments. The abdomen has 7 segments. |
Size |
Female total length: 7⁄16″ to ⅝″ (11 to 15 mm) Male total length: ⅜″ to ½″ (9 to 12 mm) |
Similar Species |
Habitat |
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Biology |
Season |
Early May through mid-July |
Behavior |
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Life Cycle |
The female creates a vertical tunnel in the ground with side tunnels branching off. Each side tunnel is a cell that contains a single egg and is provisioned with a ball of pollen mixed with nectar. |
Larva Food |
Pollen mixed with nectar |
Adult Food |
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Distribution |
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Sources Bouseman, J. K., LaBerge, W. E. 1978. A revision of the bees of the genus Andrena of the Western Hemisphere. Part IX. Subgenus Melandrena. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 104: 275-390. |
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1/17/2025 | ||
Occurrence |
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Taxonomy |
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Order |
Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps, and sawflies) |
Suborder |
Apocrita (narrow-waisted wasps, ants, and bees) |
Infraorder |
Aculeata (ants, bees, and stinging wasps) |
Superfamily |
Apoidea (bees and apoid wasps) |
Epifamily |
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Family |
Andrenidae (miner, fairy, allied panurgine, and oxaeine bees) |
Subfamily |
Andreninae (typical mining bees) |
Tribe |
Andrenini |
Genus |
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Subgenus |
Andrena |
Genus |
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Subgenus |
Melandrena |
Subordinate Taxa |
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Synonyms |
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Andrena argentiniae ssp. trichomelaena Andrena compactiscopa Andrena convexa Andrena errans Andrena idahorum Andrena junonia Andrena pluvialis Andrena semirufa Andrena solidula Andrena spaldingi |
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Common Names |
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snow miner bee snowy miner snowy mining bee |
Glossary
Clypeus
On insects, a hardened plate on the face above the upper lip (labrum).
Flagellomere
A segment of the whip-like third section of an insect antenna (flagellum).
Fovea
In spiders, a depression in the middle of the carapace, which is the internal attachment point for the stomach muscles. In the bee family Andrenidae, a small depression or groove on the face of a bee, usually located between the compound eyes. The fovea is filled with pale hairs. Plural: foveae.
Ocellus
Simple eye; an eye with a single lens. Plural: ocelli.
Scopa
A brush-like tuft of hairs on the legs or underside of the abdomen of a bee used to collect pollen.
Tibia
The fourth segment of an insect leg, after the femur and before the tarsus (foot). The fifth segment of a spider leg or palp.
Vertex
The upper surface of an insect’s head.
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Created: 1/17/2025 Last Updated: © MinnesotaSeasons.com. All rights reserved. |