Colletes hederae

Colletes hederae, the ivy bee, is a species of plasterer bee belonging to the family Colletidae subfamily Colletinae.

These mining bees are known from Austria, Belgium, Channel Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, southern England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland .

They have been only recently described (Schmidt & Westrich 1993) as a distinct species. Until then, they were confused with another species of Colletes the morphologically very similar Colletes halophilus.

The thorax of the adults is covered by orange-brown hair, while each abdominal segment has an apical orangey hair-band. The females are on average 13 millimetres (0.51 in) long, while the males are about 10 mm (0.39 in) long.

The adults emerge late in the year (the males from late August and the females a little later in early September) and remain on the wing until early November. The principal pollen forage plant is ivy (Hedera helix) (hence the specific epithet hederae), but both sexes will also nectar at ivy flowers too. When ivy is scarce, other species of plants are also visited. The females supply the larval brood almost cells exclusively with nectar and pollen of ivy flowers. When ivy flowering is delayed, females may also collect pollen at various members of the Daisy family (Asteraceae).