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Green-eyed Bee
Anthophora bimaculata
44.4906, 8.96764
Field Notes
Description:
Both sexes can be identified by their yellow-marked faces and shrill hum. The male has pale green eyes in life, though this is a purely ephemeral character, the eyes becoming brownish-black after death.
I saw several of these insects in recent days, but they fly too fast and I couldn't photograph them. This morning I found one dead on the doorstep. It's similar to a bumblebee, about 3 cm, with green eyes.
Habitat:
Southern England and the Channel Islands (Sark). The species is widely distributed throughout much of Europe, from southern Fennoscandia to Spain, eastwards to at least Italy. However, this bee belongs to a group of species (sometimes placed in the genus Heliophila) which, in the western Palaearctic, closely resemble one another and are sometimes difficult to identify. A. bimaculata is the only representative of the group which occurs in Britain.
Associated particularly with light sandy soils and, as such, is generally to be encountered inland on lowland heaths and commons, and on coastal dunes and landslips. Sometimes abundant where found, particularly in the vicinity of its nesting sites.
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