Bees & Bumble Bees

Bees & Bumblebees


Bees & Bumblebees, are a family of insects, belonging to

the order of the Hymenoptera.


Bees & Bumblebees form the Apidae family within the insect world, a family of which there are more than 20,000 species

have been described worldwide.

 

383 different species of this family have been observed in the Netherlands and 344 species have actually established themselves in our country.

 

Within this family the Bumblebees are represented with only 31 species, of which 29 are permanent in Dutch nature.

Compared to the other bees, Bumblebees generally have a fairly large and hairy body, which retains body heat quite well.

This also makes the Bumblebees extremely suitable for a life in the colder regions.


Within the bee family the Andrena or sand bees are the largest group with 82 observed species.

 



Below a number of photo's of species that I have observed so far: