Bug FAQHairy-footed Flower Bee
Anthophora plumipes · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Apidae
Also called: Spring Flower-Bee
The hairy-footed flower bee is a small bee about 13 to 15 mm long and is active from March to June. It lives in gardens, open woodland and coastal sites across most of Europe, Asia and North Africa.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Males usually have bright reddish-brown or gray hair.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults grow to about 13 to 15 mm (0.5 to 0.6 in) long.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They are commonly found in gardens, open woodland and coastal sites.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adults are seen from March to June feeding on early-flowering plants for pollen and nectar.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The species has one generation per year (univoltine). Females dig nests in clay slopes or steep mud walls, create cells filled with pollen and nectar, and lay a single egg on each pollen mass.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
They can be encountered from March to June.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 2 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Pennsylvania, Maryland.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Where do they live?
They live in gardens, open woodland and coastal sites across Europe, Asia and North Africa.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Apidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthophora_plumipes
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.