Bee groups

The wild bees and the honey bee of Europe, by genus: how many species there are, how threatened they are, when they fly and which crops they visit.

54 bee groupsOpen sources, with attributionFigures come live from the bee database
54
Bee groups with their own page
2,196
Species in these groups in Europe
164
Threatened (CR, EN or VU)
6
Families

Family Apidae

By family, with the number of species in Europe and how many of them are threatened.

GroupSpecies in EuropeThreatened (Europe)Share threatened
Nomad BeesNomada23529 12%
Eucera983 3%
Anthophora824 5%
Bumble BeesBombus6514 22%
Small Carpenter BeesCeratina270 0%
Melecta250 0%
Tetraloniella190 0%
Epeolus182 11%
Amegilla140 0%
Ammobates132 15%
Thyreus120 0%
Carpenter BeesXylocopa100 0%
Ancyla60 0%
Ammobatoides41 25%
Habropoda30 0%
Biastes31 33%
Honey beesApis10 0%

Family Andrenidae

GroupSpecies in EuropeThreatened (Europe)Share threatened
Andrena48334 7%
Panurginus140 0%
Panurgus130 0%
Flavipanurgus61 17%
Melitturga60 0%
Camptopoeum40 0%

Family Megachilidae

By family, with the number of species in Europe and how many of them are threatened.

GroupSpecies in EuropeThreatened (Europe)Share threatened
Hoplitis1105 5%
Mason BeesOsmia1031 1%
Leaf-cutter and Resin BeesMegachile964 4%
Cuckoo-leaf-cutter BeesCoelioxys302 7%
Stelis262 8%
Chelostoma250 0%
Anthidium201 5%
Protosmia160 0%
Trachusa112 18%
Pseudoanthidium110 0%
Dioxys70 0%
Heriades60 0%
Rhodanthidium60 0%
Icteranthidium51 20%
Eoanthidium40 0%
Stenoheriades30 0%
Anthidiellum30 0%
Lithurgus30 0%
Afranthidium30 0%

Family Halictidae

GroupSpecies in EuropeThreatened (Europe)Share threatened
Lasioglossum18614 8%
Halictus766 8%
Sphecodes402 5%
Dufourea204 20%
Rophites101 10%
Pseudapis82 25%
Nomioides60 0%

Family Colletidae

By family, with the number of species in Europe and how many of them are threatened.

GroupSpecies in EuropeThreatened (Europe)Share threatened
Masked BeesHylaeus905 6%
Cellophane beesColletes6513 20%

Family Melittidae

GroupSpecies in EuropeThreatened (Europe)Share threatened
Dasypoda235 22%
Melitta203 15%
Macropis30 0%

Sources

This page only uses sources with an open licence. The bee database itself contains more records, from sources for which permission is still pending.

  1. Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila), tab-delimited version
    Zenodo / Discover Life · version v57.0 · licence CC-BY-4.0
    Ascher, J. S. and J. Pickering. 2024. Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila). http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Apoidea_species Draft-57, 27 February, 2024
    doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19954082
  2. Wikidata: taxon common names (P1843) and labels of bee species
    Wikimedia Foundation / Wikidata · version SPARQL 2026-10-18 · licence CC0 1.0
    Wikidata contributors. Wikidata, taxon common names (P1843) and labels, retrieved 2026-10-18. https://www.wikidata.org (CC0).
    www.wikidata.org
  3. European Red List of Bees (2026), Appendix 1: Red List status at Pan-Europe and EU27 levels
    Publications Office of the European Union / IUCN · version 2026 · licence CC BY 4.0
    Michez, D. et al. (2026). European Red List of Bees. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2779/521877 (CC BY 4.0). Appendix 1.
    doi.org/10.2779/521877
  4. BeeBDC beesChecklist: country checklist of the world's bees (Discover Life), 2026-01-12
    Flinders University / Figshare · version 2026-01-12 · licence CC BY 4.0
    Dorey, J. B. et al. (2023). A globally synthesised and flagged bee occurrence dataset and cleaning workflow. Scientific Data 10: 747. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02626-w; beesChecklist 2026-01-12 (Figshare, CC BY 4.0), based on the Discover Life country checklist (Ascher & Pickering).
    doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02626-w

Which bees fly around your field?

In the FairGrow bee database you see the species in the cells around your own fields and apiaries, with flight weather and forage landscape.

✓

Thank you!

We've received your request and will be in touch soon.

➤ Personal contact within 1 business day

➤ A proposal tailored to your situation