A new British bee has turned out to be an overlooked, long-time resident.

Museum entomologist David Notton spotted an unknown single male Nomada facilis bee in his London garden last year, but has since uncovered examples in the Museum's collection dating back to at least 1802. Back garden discovery Notton, the Museum's Senior Curator of Hymenoptera, collected the first known British example of the new bee in May 2017. He says, 'I grow British wildflowers in my garden to attract bees, and I'm always looking to see what visits.' He identified the insect as the species Nomada facilis, which was confirmed with DNA sequencing by fellow Museum scientist Hannah Norman. As the bee was not known to live in Britain but is found elsewhere in Europe, Notton checked the Museum's historic bee collection to see if there were any other specimens.

Re-examination When Notton checked the Museum's bees, he found earlier examples of N. facilis that had indeed been collected in Britain. They had been misidentified as a closely related and similar looking species, Nomada integra. Of these specimens, the earliest N. facilis was collected sometime before 1802, and the last in 1950. Notton says, 'This showed that the bee is a long-term - though very rare - resident of Britain, rather than a recent arrival.' A cuckoo in the nest Nomada facilis belongs to a group called nomad bees, named after their wandering lifestyle. These bees do not build or provision their own nests, but instead lay their eggs in the nest of mining bee species. The nomad eggs hatch first, then the larvae eat their neighbours' supplies of pollen and nectar. Different nomad bees target different species of mining bee. Although Notton can't be certain, he thinks N. facilis in Britain is likely targeting the hawk's-beard mining bee, Andrena fulvago.