| This very
distinctive species was first recorded in the UK as
recently as 2001, some eight years after being discovered
as 'new to science' in southern Europe in 1993. After a
rapid northerly spread, Colletes hederae was
first reported from Nottinghamshire at Holme Pierrepont
in 2017 (Dutton, A.) and was probably already well
established there, at least a year previously. Commonly
known as the Ivy Bee, C. hederae is hardly
likely to be mistaken for any other species feeding on
Ivy during September and October. It is large, easily
equal in size to the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
and with dense fulvous covering of hairs on the thorax
and distinctive orange-tinted pale bands on the abdomen. |
