Honey Odyssey

Apidae

Nomada goodeniana

(Kirby, 1802)

Gooden's nomad bee

Nomada goodeniana is a bright black and yellow cuckoo bee of Europe that makes no nest of its own. It lays its eggs in the nests of Andrena mining bees (in Britain mainly the Andrena nigroaenea group, in Switzerland probably Andrena cineraria and Andrena nitida) and flies mostly in spring. It is widespread and not regarded as threatened in Britain or Switzerland.

Nomada goodeniana, Gooden's nomad bee
Photo: gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K, CC BY 2.0

What we know

How to recognise it

  • It is a very bright black and yellow cuckoo bee, and one of the largest Nomada species in Britain.

    Confirmed fact[1]

  • Adults are large for the genus, about 10 to 13 mm long, with a body patterned entirely in yellow and black.

    Confirmed fact[2]

  • It looks very much like Nomada succincta, and the two are often confused in the literature, which makes many old host records hard to interpret.

    Open question[2]

Where it lives

  • The species is widely distributed in Europe.

    Confirmed fact[1]

  • In Switzerland it is a relatively common, widespread bee of low altitudes, flying mainly between 300 m and 1000 m.

    Confirmed fact[2]

Life cycle and colony

  • It is a cuckoo bee: it builds no nest of its own but lays its eggs in the nests of mining bees of the Andrena nigroaenea group.

    Confirmed fact[1]

  • In Britain adults fly from April to June, with a small second generation in July and August.

    Confirmed fact[1]

  • In Switzerland it has a single generation a year and flies from April to the end of May.

    Confirmed fact[2]

Nest

  • Besides the nigroaenea group, it may also use the nests of other larger Andrena mining bees as hosts.

    Confirmed fact[1]

  • In Switzerland, the mining bees Andrena cineraria and Andrena nitida are thought to be its main hosts.

    Confirmed fact[2]

Flowers and food

  • Adults visit a wide variety of flowers for nectar.

    Confirmed fact[1]

Behaviour

  • Females enter only host nests that are open and do not close them again when they leave.

    Observation[2]

Conservation

  • In Britain the species is not regarded as scarce or threatened.

    Confirmed fact[1]

  • The Swiss Red List of 2024 classes it as not threatened (Least Concern).

    Confirmed fact[2]

Where it has been recorded

Each hexagon contains at least one record of Nomada goodeniana shared with GBIF: museum specimens, surveys and photographs.

15,281 records

  1. United Kingdom4,916
  2. Switzerland2,785
  3. Sweden1,901
  4. Netherlands1,585
  5. Belgium1,501
  6. Germany731

GBIF.org occurrence data for taxon key 1343694, retrieved 2026-10-19. Observation[3]

Records show where the bee has been found and reported, not its full range or its abundance. Isolated points far from the main cluster can be misidentifications, captive or imported bees, or genuine rare finds.

More from this part of the bee family tree

Amegilla cingulata, Blue-banded bee
Amegilla cingulataBlue-banded beeApidae
Anthophora plumipes, Hairy-footed flower bee
Anthophora plumipesHairy-footed flower beeApidae
Apis cerana, Asian honey bee
Apis ceranaAsian honey beeApidae
Apis dorsata, Giant honey bee
Apis dorsataGiant honey beeApidae

Sources

  1. Edwards, M. (2016). Nomada goodeniana (Kirby, 1802). BWARS (Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society) species account. Link
  2. Benon, D. (n.d.). Nomada goodeniana (Kirby, 1802): species account. info fauna, Swiss national data and information centre on fauna (Neuchatel), with Red List status from Muller & Praz (2024). Link
  3. GBIF.org (2026). Occurrence search and density maps for Nomada goodeniana, taxon key 1343694. Link

Last checked: 30 October 2026. Every statement on this page was compared with the source it cites. Spotted an error? Report it.