In an earlier observation of a male Hairy-footed flower bee (Anthophora plumipes) sleeping in the bee hotel I already reported about another more brown specimen that visited a borehole higher up the bee hotel at the end of the day.
One month later this female laid dead on the ground underneath the bee hotel. It is known that the female will frequent boreholes when they haven’t started building a nest yet. Possibly she was the other specimen, which could imply she hadn’t started building a nest yet or she had finished building. Her wing tips were damaged but the hairs on her body, which usually will wear down as a result of the building activities, still looks good except for the hair bands on the abdomen.
Literature
1 Nederlands Soortenregister2 Breugel, P. van 2014. Gasten van bijenhotels. – EIS Kenniscentrum Insecten en andere ongewervelden & Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden.