Lasioglossum albipes

Males are most easily recognised by their yellow upper lip (labrum).

It is found right across the Palaearctic region, from the British Isles to Japan and north to Sweden.

In Britain it occurs from the Isles of Scilly to Kent and north into parts of Scotland, where it is less common.

It is a bee of woodland edges, also found in clearings, glades and scrubby areas.

Unusually, this one species produces both solitary nests and social nests with workers.

In France, populations in the west are social, while populations in the east are solitary.

Social females raise two broods, first workers and then males and future queens, while solitary females raise a single brood of offspring that reproduce.

When bees from social western and solitary eastern French populations were reared side by side in a laboratory, each kept its own typical behaviour.

Females from solitary populations are able to raise two broods, but most of them do not produce workers.

Females from social populations cannot produce overwintering daughters without the help of workers.

A 2018 genetic study linked social or solitary nesting to genetic variants, including one in a gene called syntaxin 1a that is involved in nerve signalling.

In Britain females fly from mid March to early October, and males from early July to mid October.

The researchers suggest that genes behind this variation may also help shape social behaviour in many other animals.

In Britain the founding female digs a vertical main burrow about 15 cm deep.