---
title: "Bronze Furrow Bee (Halictus tumulorum): UK Guide"
date: 2026-07-10
published: 2026-07-07
author: "Dragos Nistor"
featured_image: "https://honeybeeandco.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bronze-furrow-bee-halictus-tumulorum.avif"
categories:
  - name: "Bees Category"
    url: "/bees-category.md"
---

# Bronze Furrow Bee (Halictus tumulorum): UK Guide

![Bronze furrow bee, Halictus tumulorum, a small metallic-green sweat bee](https://honeybeeandco.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/bronze-furrow-bee-halictus-tumulorum.avif "1") *Halictus tumulorum*, the bronze furrow bee. [gailhampshire](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halictus_tumulorum_female_-_Flickr_-_gailhampshire.jpg), [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), via Wikimedia Commons. Halictus tumulorum| Furrow bee (sweat bee) Very common Metallic-green sweat bee [Bees Hub](https://honeybeeandco.uk/bees/) [World Bee Atlas](https://honeybeeandco.uk/world-bee-atlas/) [UK Bee Map](https://honeybeeandco.uk/uk-bee-distribution/) [Plate Without Bees](https://honeybeeandco.uk/plate-without-bees/)UK Bee Species

## Bronze Furrow Bee *(Halictus tumulorum)*

Halictus tumulorum (Linnaeus, 1758) · subgenus Seladonia · family Halictidae

---

Bronze furrow bee is a small, tidy, metallic-green sweat bee, one of only two members of the genus *Halictus* commonly found in Britain and the smallest of the group by a clear margin. Barely six millimetres long and lit by a soft green-bronze sheen, it works garden and hedgerow flowers from spring right through to autumn and, if you slow down enough to look, gives away a small clue in its abdomen bands that reveals which side of the sweat bee family it belongs to. See where it sits among Britain’s bees on the [UK Native Bee Species Map](https://honeybeeandco.uk/uk-bee-distribution/), or among the world’s bees in the [World Bee Atlas](https://honeybeeandco.uk/world-bee-atlas/).

## Quick Facts

Common nameBronze furrow bee Scientific name*Halictus tumulorum* AuthorityLinnaeus, 1758 FamilyHalictidae (sweat bees) UK statusVery common, widespread SizeSmall (5 to 7 mm) ColourMetallic green to bronze SocietyPrimitively eusocial ActiveApril to October NestingGround, small aggregations ForagePolylectic generalist CuckooBlood bees (*Sphecodes*)  KingdomAnimalia PhylumArthropoda ClassInsecta OrderHymenoptera FamilyHalictidae SubfamilyHalictinae Genus*Halictus* (subgenus *Seladonia*) Species*Halictus tumulorum* ## A small green bee of the mounds

The bronze furrow bee was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the founding work of zoological naming.[\[3\]](#r3) Its species name, *tumulorum*, is Latin for “of the mounds”, a fitting name for a bee that digs its burrow into low earth banks and gently raised patches of bare, sunlit soil.[\[3\]](#r3) It sits in the subgenus *Seladonia*, a group of small, brightly metallic sweat bees; some modern authors treat *Seladonia* as a full genus, but here we follow the traditional placement in *Halictus*.[\[5\]](#r5) At only five to seven millimetres long it is a good deal smaller than most bees people notice in the garden, which is why it so often gets missed.[\[5\]](#r5)[\[6\]](#r6)

## Halictus or Lasioglossum? A tiny giveaway

The bronze furrow bee is the first member of the genus *Halictus* to be profiled here, and gives us a chance to explain the neatest trick for telling the two big sweat-bee genera apart. Both *Halictus* and *Lasioglossum* carry pale bands of felt-like hair across the abdomen, but the position of those bands is opposite between the two.[\[8\]](#r8) On a *Halictus* such as this one, the bands sit on the *back* (apical) edge of each abdominal segment; on a *Lasioglossum*, on the *front* (basal) edge of the following segment.[\[8\]](#r8) Look at a photo of the abdomen straight from above: the shining edges of the segments interrupt the pale bands in *Lasioglossum*, while *Halictus* bands sit right on those edges.[\[8\]](#r8)

IDSame family, opposite hair bands: *Halictus* at the back of the segment, *Lasioglossum* at the front. Once you have seen it, you never miss it.[\[8\]](#r8)

## Sweat bees and furrow bees

The bronze furrow bee belongs to the Halictidae, the family known worldwide as sweat bees because some of its members are drawn to the salt in perspiration and will land harmlessly on skin to lap at it.[\[7\]](#r7) In Britain the family goes by the tidier name furrow bee, after a fine hairless groove, the rima, on the female’s last abdominal segment.[\[7\]](#r7) You can see where the Halictidae sit alongside the other bee families in the [World Bee Atlas](https://honeybeeandco.uk/world-bee-atlas/).

## A small social bee

Like many sweat bees, the bronze furrow bee is primitively eusocial: an overwintered female founds a nest in spring and raises a first brood, and some of those daughters stay on as workers to help rear a second brood of males and next-year females.[\[4\]](#r4) Its colonies are on the smaller side, and unusually the foundress and workers are not sharply different in size, an oddity called weak polyphenism that first drew researchers to the species half a century ago.[\[4\]](#r4) Females can be on the wing from April; workers appear by early summer, and males and new females fly late into the year, with records into October in warm years.[\[1\]](#r1)

## Where and when you will see it

The bronze furrow bee is a genuine generalist, taking pollen and nectar from a very wide range of flowers, with a documented spring preference for the catkins of sallows and later visits to umbellifers, brambles and daisies of every kind.[\[5\]](#r5) It nests in short, sunlit turf and bare ground, often in small groups, and turns up in gardens, parks, brownfield, coastal cliffs and open country alike.[\[1\]](#r1) It is widespread and common through southern Britain, becoming scarcer as one moves north into the Central Highlands of Scotland, and is also present on the Isles of Scilly and the Channel Islands.[\[1\]](#r1) Its parasites are members of the blood-bee genus *Sphecodes*, small red-and-black cleptoparasites that enter unguarded nests to lay their own eggs in the host’s cells.[\[7\]](#r7)

Sit still by a patch of sunny bare soil in June and a small bronze-green bee will come and go: this is very often *Halictus tumulorum*. ## How to tell it apart

The one bee that reliably fools the eye is the closely related and much rarer *Halictus confusus*, a heathland species confined to a handful of sites in southern England.[\[1\]](#r1) Females of the two are so alike that identification is often only certain by dissecting a male and examining the genitalia.[\[1\]](#r1) The best field clue is the pale hair band on the third abdominal segment of the female: in the bronze furrow bee it does not fill the whole apical depression and is noticeably narrower in the middle than at the sides, whereas in *H. confusus* it fills the depression fully and is even in width across.[\[2\]](#r2) Males of the bronze furrow bee usually have dark middle and hind trochanters, while *H. confusus* males have them largely yellow.[\[2\]](#r2) Outside its rare relative’s range, a small metallic-green *Halictus* is almost always this species.[\[2\]](#r2)

## Why the bronze furrow bee matters

Because it is so widespread, active for so much of the year and so unfussy about the flowers it visits, the bronze furrow bee is one of the quiet background pollinators of gardens, parks and open flowery country across much of the Palaearctic.[\[5\]](#r5) It is also a model for understanding how bee societies work: as a primitively eusocial species with weak worker/foundress differences, it sits close to the crossover between solitary and social living, and its behaviour has been studied in detail as part of that story.[\[4\]](#r4) Recent work has produced a chromosome-level genome sequence for the species, which will feed further research into the origins of social behaviour in bees.[\[5\]](#r5)

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[Start a Subscription](https://honeybeeandco.uk/honey-subscription/)## Frequently asked questions

What is a bronze furrow bee?It is a small metallic-green sweat bee, *Halictus tumulorum*, in the family Halictidae. About five to seven millimetres long, it is the smaller and more common of Britain’s two green *Halictus* species and one of the everyday sweat bees of gardens. How is Halictus different from Lasioglossum?Both are sweat bees with pale hair bands across the abdomen, but the position is opposite. In *Halictus* such as the bronze furrow bee, the bands sit on the back edge of each segment. In *Lasioglossum* they sit on the front edge of the next segment. Look at the abdomen straight from above and the shining segment edges will be either interrupting or resting under the bands. Is the bronze furrow bee really green?Yes, in good light. It carries a bright metallic sheen that shifts from green to bronze depending on angle, and is easy to see with a hand lens. In dull weather the bee can look dark, and the sheen is easily missed. Is it social or solitary?It is primitively eusocial. An overwintered female starts a nest in spring, some of her first daughters remain as workers to help raise a second brood, and males and next-year females fly later in the year. The colonies are small and the workers and queen are not sharply different in size. When are bronze furrow bees active?Females can appear from April, workers by early summer, and both sexes are still on the wing in September and October in warm autumns. This long season is one of the reasons the species is such a familiar garden bee. Do bronze furrow bees sting?Almost never. The bee is very small, with a weak sting, and is not aggressive. Even if one lands on your skin to sample sweat it is harmless and much more likely to fly off than to sting. Is this the same bee as the common furrow bee?No. The [common furrow bee](https://honeybeeandco.uk/common-furrow-bee/) (*Lasioglossum calceatum*) is larger, plain-dark without the metallic green sheen, and belongs to a different genus. The two often share the same flowers and habitats. Does the bronze furrow bee make honey?No. Its small nests store only enough pollen and nectar for their own larvae, never a harvestable surplus. Only the honeybee makes honey in quantity. Compare the bee families in the [World Bee Atlas](https://honeybeeandco.uk/world-bee-atlas/).## Related species

[Fellow HalictusOrange-legged Furrow Bee

Halictus rubicundusRead more →](https://honeybeeandco.uk/orange-legged-furrow-bee/) [Furrow beeCommon Furrow Bee

Lasioglossum calceatumRead more →](https://honeybeeandco.uk/common-furrow-bee/) [Metallic greenGreen Furrow Bee

Lasioglossum morioRead more →](https://honeybeeandco.uk/green-furrow-bee/)## Sources & references

1. BWARS (Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society). Species account: *Halictus tumulorum* (Linnaeus, 1758): small metallic-green sweat bee, white tomentose hair bands on the gaster, near-identical to *H. confusus*, widespread through southern Britain to the Central Highlands. bwars.com.
2. Falk, S. *Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland*, Bloomsbury, and the Steven Falk Flickr collection: separation from *H. confusus* using the hair band on tergite 3 and the colour of male trochanters.
3. Linnaeus, C. (1758), *Systema Naturae*, 10th edition, original description. Etymology: Latin *tumulorum*, genitive plural of *tumulus*, “of the mounds”, after the small mounds around the burrow entrance (NBN Atlas; GBIF).
4. Plateaux-Quenu, C. & Plateaux, L. (1994). Polyphenism of *Halictus (Seladonia) tumulorum* (L.) (Hymenoptera, Halictinae). *Insectes Sociaux* 41(2): 219 to 222 (primitively eusocial with weak worker/foundress polymorphism).
5. Falk, S. *et al.* (2025). The genome sequence of the bronze furrow bee, *Seladonia tumulorum* (Linnaeus, 1758). *Wellcome Open Research* 7:105 (small size, Palaearctic distribution from the UK to Japan, spring use of sallows, near-identical to *H. confusus* and separation by male genitalia).
6. Benton, T. (2017). *Solitary Bees*. Naturalists’ Handbooks 33, Pelagic Publishing (distribution, ecology and identification of British sweat bees).
7. Else, G.R. & Edwards, M. (2018). *Handbook of the Bees of the British Isles*. Ray Society (the Halictidae, sweat-bee habit, furrow on the female’s last tergite, blood-bee cuckoos in *Sphecodes*).
8. Vermont Atlas of Life: Furrow Bees (genus *Halictus*), with the key field character separating *Halictus* from *Lasioglossum* by the position of abdominal hair bands (apical in *Halictus*, basal in *Lasioglossum*).

![Dragos Nistor, founder of HoneyBee & Co.](https://honeybeeandco.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Dragos-Nistor-Founder-at-HoneyBee-Co.-.jpg "5")Dragos Nistor

Founder, HoneyBee & Co. · Guest Lecturer, University of Greenwich

HoneyBee & Co. draws on six generations of family beekeeping heritage, with honey from the Nistor family apiaries and from carefully chosen British producers. Our British honey supplier holds SALSA Certification, and we offer a 15% NHS Discount. Every jar is raw, unfiltered and traceable to the hive.