Bee Beetle.

Bee Beetle (Trichius fasciatus) on Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense)

Interesting Find Near Cawdor Woods.

Whilst searching for possible wild bees last week, I found this interesting member of the Coleoptera order. At first glance, this hairy insect looked just like a bumble bee till closer inspection revealed these colourful wing cases. My reference books implies that it is rare in UK. Has anyone else seen one of these?

16 thoughts on “Bee Beetle.”

  1. How wonderful. No, never seen one, here or anywhere – and I’m someone who’s always on the lookout for such things. If it’s really going for the scare-them-off look, you’d think it would do a hornet or a wasp, not a harmless bee.

    1. Thanks,Linton. I am excited about it because it just looked so unreal. It was just like a bumble bee and I might have missed identifying it had I not been so focussed on identifying insects for the course that I am doing.

  2. Wow, it looks beautiful and very bee like. Never saw one but will keep my eyes open. Thank you for sharing.

  3. That is very interesting Ann. I shall be looking more closely on my walks for these . Terrific camouflage though! Hard to distinguish at a cursory glance! Good for you spotting it.

  4. Here is a map.

    You will see that it has a very strange distribution – N Scotland and Wales. It is quite common up here and you can read about it in The Coleopterist 29(3): 154-160, December 2020.

    1. Saw this very beetle burrowing under a dead mouse carcass on the island just off Newborough beach, Anglesey

      1. Hello Barry. Thank you for sharing this colourful shiny beetle with us. I am pretty certain that it is a burying beetle (Nicrophorus investigator (in italics!)) because the bee beetle has a hairy thorax and eats pollen etc. The burying beetle feeds on corpses. Great to see this and learn new things. I appreciate you taking the time to send this in. Best wishes, Ann.

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