Common mini-mining bee, Andrena minutula, a tiny dark mining bee on a spring flower — *Andrena minutula*, common mini-mining bee. James Lindsey / Ecology of Commanster, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Andrena minutula Mining beeTwo broodsGround-nestingWidespread

UK Bee Species

Common Mini-mining Bee (Andrena minutula)

Andrena minutula Kirby, 1802 · subgenus Micrandrena · family Andrenidae

The common mini-mining bee is Britain's most frequently encountered of the tiny “mini-miners,” a group of small dark mining bees that are easy to overlook. It is double-brooded, flying from early spring through to autumn, and its very ordinariness makes it a quiet, dependable pollinator of gardens and grassland.

Quick facts

Common name

Common mini-mining bee

Scientific name

Andrena minutula

Authority

Kirby, 1802

Subgenus

Micrandrena (mini-miners)

Family

Andrenidae

UK status

Very common and widespread

Size

Very small

Active

March to September, two broods

Nesting

Solitary burrows in the ground

Forage

Polylectic; dandelion, celandine

Cuckoo

Little nomad bee

Temperament

Docile, harmless

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Arthropoda
Class	Insecta
Order	Hymenoptera
Family	Andrenidae
Genus	Andrena
Subgenus	Micrandrena
Species	Andrena minutula

The yardstick mini-miner

Mining bees of the genus Andrena are solitary, ground-nesting bees, and the subgenus Micrandrena, the mini-miners, are its smallest members, tiny dark bees that are among the hardest of all British bees to identify.^[3] The common mini-mining bee is the commonest of them and serves as the yardstick against which the others are measured.^[1] Find it among Britain's bees on the UK Native Bee Species Map.

The female has a dull thorax with fairly close, obvious punctures, and abdominal segments that lack punctures and carry only narrow white hair-fringes at the sides. Even so, separating it from close relatives such as A. semilaevis and A. minutuloides usually needs a microscope.^[1]

Two kinds of male

The common mini-mining bee shows brood dimorphism: spring males typically have a black-haired face and a duller, faintly punctured thorax, while summer males have pale-haired faces and a shinier, more strongly punctured body.^[1] The difference once misled naturalists into treating the two broods as separate species.^[2]

So small it is usually overlooked, so common it is everywhere: the mini-miner is the workhorse you never notice.

Two broods, spring to autumn

Unlike most British mining bees, which fly for only a few weeks, the common mini-mining bee is bivoltine, raising two full generations a year: a spring brood on the wing from mid-March to early June and a summer brood from late June or early July to the end of September.^[2] It is the earliest of the mini-miners to appear and the one most likely to be found on early spring blossom.^[3]

It is polylectic, visiting a great variety of flowers across both broods, but is especially abundant on dandelion, coltsfoot and lesser celandine in spring.^[1] It is widespread from the south coast of England north to southern Scotland.^[2]^[5]

Two broods

The common mini-mining bee is double-brooded, giving it a flight season stretching from March right through to September.^[2]

Nesting and its cuckoo

Despite the bee's abundance, its nests are surprisingly seldom found. It is thought to nest solitarily, each female digging her own burrow in the ground.^[2]^[4] Its cells are targeted by a tiny cuckoo, the little nomad bee (Nomada flavoguttata), which lays in the mini-miner's nests.^[2]

The commonest

Among Britain's tiny Micrandrena mini-miners, this is the species you are most likely to meet.^[2]

One species or two?

The two broods puzzled early naturalists. After reviewing the British mini-miners, Perkins (1914) treated the spring generation as a distinct species, Andrena parvula, and the summer one as A. minutula, based on very subtle differences in surface texture. The name parvula was later shown to be the same species and demoted to a synonym.^[2]

Why it matters

The common mini-mining bee's value lies precisely in its ordinariness. Small, abundant and active across two seasons, it spreads pollination across a huge range of wild and garden flowers from early spring to autumn, plugging gaps that showier, single-brooded bees leave. Growing dandelions, celandines and other simple open flowers, and tolerating a little bare, sunny ground for nesting, quietly supports one of Britain's busiest bees.

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Frequently asked questions

How do I identify a common mini-mining bee?

This is a very small, dark mining bee: the female has a dull, closely punctured thorax and abdominal segments with only narrow white hair-fringes at the sides. It is genuinely hard to name from a photograph, and separating it from other tiny mini-miners such as Andrena semilaevis usually needs a specimen and a microscope. Flight time helps, as it is the earliest mini-miner to appear.

What is a mining bee?

Mining bees are solitary, ground-nesting bees, mostly in the genus Andrena. Each female digs her own burrow with several cells, stocks each with pollen and nectar, and lays one egg per cell. There is no queen, no worker caste and no shared nest.

What is a mini-miner?

Mini-miners are the smallest mining bees, in the subgenus Micrandrena. They are tiny, dark and notoriously difficult to identify, and the common mini-mining bee is the most frequently encountered of them in Britain.

When is the common mini-mining bee active?

It is double-brooded, with a spring generation from mid-March to early June and a summer generation from late June or July to the end of September. That gives it one of the longest effective flight seasons of any British mining bee.

What flowers does it visit?

It is a generalist, visiting a great variety of flowers, but is especially abundant on dandelion, coltsfoot and lesser celandine in spring. Simple, open spring flowers are the best way to support it.

Why do the spring and summer bees look different?

The species shows brood dimorphism: spring males have dark-haired faces and duller bodies, summer males pale faces and shinier, more punctured bodies. The difference is real enough that early naturalists once described the two broods as separate species.

Do common mini-mining bees sting?

No, for practical purposes. They are tiny, solitary and docile, with no colony to defend, and are completely harmless in gardens and around people.

Does the common mini-mining bee make honey?

No. Each female stores only enough pollen and nectar for her own larvae, never a surplus. Only the honeybee makes honey in quantity. Compare the bee families in the World Bee Atlas.

Related species

Sources & references

Falk, S. Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland, Bloomsbury, and the Steven Falk Flickr collection: Andrena minutula (commonest mini-miner, female and brood-dimorphic male characters, bivoltine flight, spring forage).
BWARS (Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society). Species account: Andrena minutula (Kirby, 1802): seasonal dimorphism, the parvula history, bivoltine flight, distribution, solitary nesting and the cuckoo Nomada flavoguttata. bwars.com.
Steven Falk, Micrandrena collection notes, and NatureSpot family account for Andrenidae: mini-miner identification difficulty and biology. naturespot.org.
Falk, S. (2015): Andrena genus biology, solitary ground nesting and generalist foraging.
NBN Atlas / GBIF Secretariat. Andrena minutula (Kirby, 1802): taxonomy and UK distribution. nbnatlas.org; gbif.org.

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