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?
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.
Hello Avery, I’m glad that you are excited too. I thought that you might have spotted one before but maybe you will now you have seen this one!
Great find!
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.
Wow, it looks beautiful and very bee like. Never saw one but will keep my eyes open. Thank you for sharing.
You might see one Maria as I found this one less than a mile from your house.
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.
Thanks, Catriona, and happy bee beetle spotting. Check out the thistles.
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.
Thank you for commenting and sending the map and information. It is an interesting distribution. They seem to like thistles.
Saw this very beetle burrowing under a dead mouse carcass on the island just off Newborough beach, Anglesey
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.
found one in Carrbridge in Scotland last thursday
That’s great, Grace. It’s an exciting find.
Found two Bee Beetles in Cawdor today June 2023
Nice spot, Ruth. They are magnificent insects.