Invertebrates of March

This morning Frances drew my attention to the bees on some of our Salvias.  Most of them were Honeybees

 This one, which was what Frances drew to my attention was my first ever Blue-banded bee Amegilla cingulata.  It took some stalking to get it to settle down but eventually I scored.
Later in the day I took another image, which while not so crisp does give a better impression of the furriness of the insect.
On the leaves of the Salvia was this shield bug possibly Plautia affinis.
 Also present was a beetle which I believe to be the common Red and Blue Beetle Dicranolaius bellulus.  The shape of the antennae look different to other members of the family Melyridae of which I have seen a lot this Summer.


Comments

Anonymous said…
I get blue-banded bees quite often in my garden. They apparently like blue/purple flowers, occasionally white ones. Your pic is probably a female - they have 4 blue bands, while males have 5. Old bees have progressively less fur, so a nice furry one is a youngish bee.
Sandra h
5 March 2014 at 10:09:00 GMT+11
Harvey Perkins said…
My impression is that the blue-banded bees have been more common this summer.
5 March 2014 at 19:53:00 GMT+11
Flabmeister said…
Thanks Sandra and Harvey.

An 'ento' friend from Urila has commented that he gets them every year in his plant tunnel. As evident from this being a 'lifer' for me they are more common out here.
5 March 2014 at 20:33:00 GMT+11
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