Lassioglossum prasinum - distinctive heather bee

MattPrince's picture

Got shown a nice lassioglossum by John Walters on the weeked - I expect many of you are already familiar with it - l.prasinum. Its a heather specialist, quite big for a lassioglossum (relatively speaking!) and the males which were in evidence, have a red tipped abdomen (hard to see without capture). Females have white hairs extending along the sides of the tergites. Easiest to find visting on the edge of bare patches amongst heather. Quite a restricted range according to the BWARS map - worth looking out for and submitting records perhaps.http://www.bwars.com/index.php?q=bee/halictidae/lasioglossum-prasinum