Ashy mining bee
Females during the visit of a daisy.
The gray sand bee ( Andrena cineraria ) is a bee from the genus of sand bee ( Andrena ).
Features
The bees are 10 to 14 millimeters long and have a black ground color. The abdomen has a blue glow. The males are slightly slimmer and smaller built than the females and have between the abdomen segments extra gray hairs. The thorax of the Grey Sandbiene is heavily covered with gray hair, a characteristic runs centrally, black hairy transverse band, which otherwise occurs only in Andrena barbarae, which, however, differs from Andrena cineraria by more darkened wings.
Occurrence
The animals are found in almost all of Europe. They live in open habitats with sandy or loamy sites such as forest edges, meadows, sand and gravel pits and sandy heaths. You need unvegetated points on the bottom. The bees fly in one generation a year from mid-March ( males ) or the beginning of April ( female ) to end of May. They are common in central Europe, particularly in sandy habitats.
Way of life
They feed on nectar and pollen polylektisch from a variety of plants, primarily of Umbelliferae ( Apiaceae ), Compositae (Asteraceae ) family (Brassicaceae ), buttercup ( Ranunculaceae ), rose family ( Rosaceae ) and willow family ( Salicaceae ).
Development
The females dig in soil, are being dug about 10 to 25 inches deep in a nest two to three brood cells. They often nest in colonies, and it is possible that several hundred bees create their nests side by side. The nest openings remain open during the day, only at night and in the rain they are closed. The bees carry pollen in each brood chamber, then the female lays an egg in the. The larvae of bees are of different wasps bees, such as the redhead wasp bee ( Nomada lathburiana ), or parasitized by Nomada goodeniana. Pupation occurs in a cocoon, the animals hibernate as ready skinned bees in the cocoon and hatch until the spring.