Mining bees
Andrena spp.
Bee
Genus-level entry for the solitary, ground-nesting mining bees — one of the largest bee genera in North America, with several hundred species on the continent. They are among the earliest bees to emerge in spring, often flying while temperatures are still cold, which makes them key pollinators of early-blooming willows, maples, and fruit trees (apple, cherry, plum, pear) before most other bees are active. Females excavate underground nest tunnels in well-drained soil, frequently in dense aggregations, and provision each cell with pollen and nectar. Many Andrena are generalists, but the genus includes pollen specialists such as the spring beauty miner (Andrena erigeniae), which collects pollen only from Claytonia virginica.
Conservation
The genus as a whole is large and not assessed as imperiled, but most individual Andrena species lack formal conservation assessments, and narrow pollen specialists can be locally vulnerable where their host plants decline. No genus-wide IUCN or Xerces Society Red List status applies; do not read 'mining bees' as a single conservation unit.
Plants in the catalog
Pollen plants · 21
Spring-emerging solitary mining bees are plausible visitors to the early flower spikes.
Solitary mining bees plausibly forage pollen from the shallow, exposed early-summer flowers.
Early-emerging solitary mining bees (Andrena) are well suited to visit the very early bloom for pollen.
Spring-flying mining bees (Andrena) are among the many early bees that gather dandelion pollen and nectar during its late-winter-to-spring bloom.
Spring-flying solitary mining bees plausibly forage the accessible open flowers; inferred from flower form and bloom timing rather than a single named record.
Spring-flying solitary mining bees (Andrena) forage the accessible, open flowers; plausible from the flower form and bloom timing rather than a single named record.
Solitary mining bees visit Mediterranean Cistus flowers for the abundant pollen.
Solitary mining bees plausibly forage pollen from the shallow, open spring flowers.
Solitary bees plausibly forage pollen from the open clusters of urn-shaped flowers.
Range
Native and widespread across North America, with the greatest diversity in temperate regions; hundreds of species occur from Canada through the United States and into Mexico.