Panurgus banksianus

• Scientific name: Panurgus banksianus
• Common name: large shaggy bee
• Dimension: 10-12 mm
• Habitat: wooded areas, slopes with sparse vegetation and sparse woods; from the plains to the upper subalpine belt
• Behavior: solitary
• Collective behavior: oligolectic
• Larvae's diet: plants of the Asteraceae family, such as daisies, almost exclusively of the subfamily Cichorioideae
• Nest: in the ground
• Parasitized by: Nomada similis
• Red list of bees in Switzerland: not endangered

Interesting Facts:

Large shaggy bees collect their pollen with their hairy hind legs and carry it back to the nest. Since the flowers on which they specialize close in the early afternoon, sometimes they only manage to fill only one brood cell per day.