The missing “Turkish” bee that provoked an international row after the UK Government ordered its death is in fact British, the Natural History Museum has declared.

David Notton, chief bee curator at the museum, said the colourful nests left in the conservatory of a Bristol home are too untidy to be the foreign species Osmia avosetta.

Instead, he told The Daily Telegraph they are the handywork of the native Patchwork leafcutter bee, Megachile centuncularis.

The now famous insect was believed to have unwittingly entered Britain in the luggage of the Toy family as they returned from holiday in Dalaman last week.

It subsequently became an international cause celebre after “escaping” the house before officials from The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) could get there and kill it.

The government had said it intended to destroy the bee following concerns it may carry viruses which could devastated British species.

A major Turkish newspaper and a well-known novelist have since condemned the decision and called for the bee to spared.

However, Mr Notton said: “This species is obviously different from Osmia avosetta.

“For example, the pollen brush under the tail is bright orange, whereas it is white in Osmia avosetta.