Species Account for Anthophora retusa

Species text
This bee used to be a widespread species, but has come close to extinction in Britain in modern times. Falk (1991) describes it as today extremely rare with post-1970 records restricted to a few cliffs on the south coast of the Isle of Wight and a coastal site in Essex (P. Williams, pers. comm.), and the distribution map in that publication indicates the record is most probably from the wider Walton Naze area. It seems that the habitat where the bees were taken was a mown/grazed short grass sea-wall embankment from low lying fields. Several were collected and the identification was confirmed, but the material has apparently been lost. There have subsequently been a few other modern records, mostly from coastal sites in southern England, but it will be important to investigate whether there is population survives in the area. References

Habitats

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Interpretation of distribution maps