Lasioglossum malachurum

It is one of the larger Lasioglossum species found in Britain.

In Switzerland it is described as a medium-sized species of 8 to 9 mm.

In the Greek population, queens were on average 10.6 percent larger than their workers.

In Britain it was once scarce and very local, but since about 1990 it has been spreading across England.

Across the western Palaearctic its range runs from Denmark to the Azores and Morocco.

In Britain, females fly from early April to October, and males from early July to the beginning of October.

Workers are smaller than the queens, so much so that the worker was originally described as a separate species, Halictus longulus.

This bee, common across much of Europe, is obligately eusocial throughout its range: every colony has a queen and workers.

In a population studied in southern Greece, colonies produced two broods of workers and then a third brood of new queens, males and some workers.

Why social organisation varies between populations across Europe is still being worked out; longer breeding seasons appear to be part of the explanation.

It commonly nests in aggregations, which can sometimes be very extensive.

Nest burrows are often found in the hard, trodden soil of footpaths.

It is a generalist forager, collecting pollen from at least 12 different plant families.

Although a single queen normally monopolises egg laying, workers do lay some eggs in the final brood, producing both new queens and males.