Sphecodes albilabris

Sphecodes albilabris is a solitary parasitic bee, a member of the genus Sphecodes, that is endemic to Central and Western Europe. It also occurs in North Africa, and it is thought to have been introduced to the United States and Australia by accident. Across the Palaearctic it ranges from Portugal through Europe, Asia Minor, the Levant, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Siberia to the Pacific coast of the Far East, and the subspecies rubripes is found in North Africa, the Levant, Iberia and the Mediterranean islands. The bee is 11 to 14 mm long and lives in open, sandy places such as inland dunes, drifting sand fields, sand pits, grasslands and flood dams, from the lowlands up to montane elevations. Adults fly from March to October, females from March to August and males from July to October. Its larvae are parasites in the nests of other bees, chiefly Colletes cunicularius, and it has also been seen in nests of Halictus sexcinctus, Halictus quadricinctus and Melitturga clavicornis. The name comes from the Latin words for white and lip, after the snow-white hairy lower face of the male.