Grey-backed Mining Bee

Andrena vaga · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Andrenidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Grey-backed Mining Bee
Photo: Stephan Sprinz, CC BY

The grey-backed mining bee is a large solitary bee, about 13 to 15 mm long, with a face covered in brownish hairs. It lives in pastures, meadows, heathland, woody glades and coastal areas with loose soil, usually near willows (Salix).

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

The bee’s face is densely covered with brownish hairs.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

It measures about 13 to 15 mm in length.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

Found in pastures, meadows, heathland, woody glades and coastal sites with loose soil, always close to willow species.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

It collects pollen exclusively from willow trees (Salix).

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

The species has one generation per year, with adults emerging in early spring.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its range extends across Europe up to 66° N, reaching southern Scandinavia, eastward to Iran, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

Source: Wikipedia

Lookalikes

It looks similar to the ashy mining bee, Andrena cineraria.

Source: Wikipedia

More photos

Grey-backed Mining Bee photo 3
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Grey-backed Mining Bee photo 4
Photo: Bj.schoenmakers, CC0
Grey-backed Mining Bee photo 5
Photo: Aiwok, CC BY-SA 3.0
Grey-backed Mining Bee photo 6
Photo: Ocrdu, CC BY-SA

Same family (Andrenidae)

Ashy Mining BeeAshy Mining BeeAndrena cinerariaTawny Mining BeeTawny Mining BeeAndrena fulvaWilke's Mining BeeWilke's Mining BeeAndrena wilkellaLarge Scabious Mining BeeLarge Scabious Mining BeeAndrena hattorfianaChocolate Mining BeeChocolate Mining BeeAndrena scoticaHawthorn Mining BeeHawthorn Mining BeeAndrena crataegi

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrena_vaga

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

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