Fall Mining Bees

The Fall Mining Bees are entirely different group of species than those active earlier in the year. Many are closely associated with Goldenrod and/or Asters.

Genus level ID: See the Mining Bee page for tips on separating other genera. In particular, compare the fall suit of Cellophane Bees (Colletes), which often co-occur on Goldenrod.

The species below represent all of the Mining Bee species likely to be encountered from August onward, in rough order of abundance and distinctiveness. Almost all the species listed below can at least occasionally be identified from photos.. Click each box for more details on a given species.

Hairy-banded Mining Bee (Andrena hirticincta)

Sunflower Mining Bee (Andrena helianthi)

©Michael Veit

Cloudy-winged Mining Bee (Andrena nubecula)

Peaceful Miner Bee (Andrena placata)

Virtually impossible to separate from Simple Miner Bee from photos.

Aster Mining Bee (Andrena asteris)

© Melissa Oberhelman

Andrena braccata

Canadian Mining Bee (Andrena canadensis)

©Michael Veit

Parnassia Miner (Andrena parnassiae)

Peckham's Mining Bee (Andrena peckhami)

Unless otherwise specified, photos are courtesy of Margarita Miklasevskaja at PCYU with funding from NSERC-CANPOLIN. Specialization data primarily from https://jarrodfowler.com/bees_pollen.html

The table below is a complete list (as of February 2021) of all Mining Bee species confirmed for Vermont. Links (where present) will take you to individual species pages with natural history notes, identification tips, and a map.

All Vermont Mining Bees

Please note that many of our datasets have not been published yet, so the maps are incomplete.