Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction
What is a bee?
Classification of bees
At-a-glance guide to bee genera
Species, races, forms and variations
The life cycle of bees
Enemies and associates of bees
Habitats of bees
Field techniques for finding and recording bees
Conserving bees
Societies and recording groups
Bees beyond Britain and Ireland

Further Reading

How to Use this Guide
Dichotomous keys
Format of the species accounts
The colour plates
Male or female?
Is it a bee?
Bee anatomy

Glossary
Author’s web feature

Key to Bee Genera
Family colletidae
- Colletes – Plasterer bees
- Hylaeus – Yellow-face bees
Family andrenidae
- Andrena – Mining bees
- Panurgus – Shaggy bees
Family halictidae
- Halictus – End-banded furrow bees
- Lasioglossum – Base-banded furrow bees
- Sphecodes – Blood bees
- Rophites – Bristle-headed bees
- Dufourea – Short-faced bees
Family melittidae
- Melitta – Blunthorn bees
- Macropis – Oil-collecting bees
- Dasypoda – Pantaloon bees
Family megachilidae
- Anthidium – Wool carders
- Stelis – Dark bees
- Heriades – Resin bees
- Chelostoma – Scissor bees
- Osmia – Mason bees
- Hoplitis – Lesser masons
- Megachile – Leafcutter and mud bees
- Coelioxys – Sharp-tail bees
Family apidae
- Nomada – Nomad bees
- Epeolus – Variegated cuckoo bees
- Eucera – Long-horned bees
- Anthophora – Flower bees
- Melecta – Mourning bees
- Ceratina – Small carpenter bees
- Xylocopa – Large carpenter bees
- Bombus – Bumblebees
- Apis – Honey bees

Colour Plates

Checklist of the bees of Britain and Ireland
Index
Photographic credits

Promotional Information

This eagerly anticipated new addition to the highly acclaimed British Wildlife Field Guides series will unravel the complexities of identification. It provides the latest information on the identification, ecology, status and distribution of all 275 species of bee in Britain, Ireland and the Channel Islands.

About the Author

Steven Falk is a professional naturalist and conservationist with a particular love for insects. He has worked for the former Nature Conservancy Council, two large museum services, and a wildlife trust. He has been involved with natural history books since his teens, contributing colour artwork to books such as British Hoverflies and the Collins Field Guide to Insects of Britain and Northern Europe. He has also written many scientific papers, popular articles and a county flora for Warwickshire. He currently works for Buglife.

Over almost forty years, Richard Lewington has built up a reputation as one of Europe’s finest wildlife illustrators. He first became interested in butterflies as a child when he inherited a cabinet of insects. He studied graphic design at the Berkshire College of Art, and since leaving in 1971 has specialised in natural-history illustration. His meticulous paintings of insects and other wildlife are the mainstay of many of the modern classics of field-guide art.

Reviews

Richard Lewington’s delicate pictures are without equal, but with copious thumbnail diagrams, and close-up photos of body parts, this is also a detailed key work for the specialist wanting to learn more.
*BBC Wildlife*

Bee identification just got a whole lot easier...with Richard Lewington's stunning artwork and Steven Falk's accessible text and identification keys
*Bird Table magazine*

Comprehensive, well organised, easy to use, beautifully illustrated and packed with detail this is, quite simply, one of the best field guides I’ve had the pleasure of using.
*Ireland's Wildlife*