Orange-tailed Mining Bee vs African Stingless Bee

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Orange-tailed Mining Bee African Stingless Bee
Scientific Name Andrena haemorrhoa Meliponula bocandei
Order Hymenoptera Hymenoptera
Family Andrenidae Apidae
Size 8-12 mm 5-8 mm
Habitat Orchards Forests
Diet Fruit Feeders Nectar Feeders
Regions Europe West Africa, Central Africa
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Orange-tailed Mining Bee

A common spring bee with a ginger thorax and orange-tipped abdomen. It visits a wide variety of flowers and is an important fruit tree pollinator.

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Did You Know?

It is one of the most abundant spring-flying solitary bees across the whole of Europe.

African Stingless Bee

A small dark stingless bee that nests in tree hollows and produces a prized thin honey. Colonies can number several thousand workers.

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Did You Know?

Their honey is traditionally valued in West African medicine and can sell for ten times the price of regular honey.