Blackthorn Mining Bee vs Coastal Iris

Andrena varians compared with Iris atropurpurea

Key Differences

• Blackthorn Mining Bee is Least Concern while Coastal Iris is Critically Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Blackthorn Mining Bee	Coastal Iris
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class same	Insecta (Insects)	Insecta (Insects)
Order	Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees & Wasps)	Mantodea (Mantodea)
Family	Andrenidae	Eremiaphilidae
Genus	Andrena	Iris
Species	Andrena varians	Iris atropurpurea

Evolutionary Relationship

Blackthorn Mining Bee and Coastal Iris share a common ancestor at the Class level: Insecta. (Insects)

Conservation Status

Blackthorn Mining Bee

LC — Least Concern

Coastal Iris

CR — Critically Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Blackthorn Mining Bee	Coastal Iris
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Blackthorn Mining Bee

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden.

Coastal Iris

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Blackthorn Mining Bee

The Blackthorn Mining Bee (Andrena varians) is a species in the genus Andrena. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Distributed across Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden.

Coastal Iris

Iris atropurpurea, the coastal iris or Sharon iris, is a bulbous geophyte in the family Iridaceae critically endangered and endemic to the coastal plain of central Israel, one of the most range-restricted irises in the world. The species is confined to a narrow strip of the Sharon plain sandy coastal habitat, a Mediterranean coastal sandstone and sandy soil ecosystem that has been almost entirely eliminated by the sprawling Tel Aviv metropolitan area and its associated agricultural conversion. Iris atropurpurea produces striking deep purple to blackish-purple flowers with intricate veining and yellow signals in late winter and early spring, blooming briefly before entering summer dormancy as a bulb in the dry Mediterranean season. Fewer than twenty natural populations of this species are thought to survive, all within a highly fragmented and disturbed coastal landscape under permanent threat from urban expansion, recreational pressure, invasive alien plants, and changes in grazing regimes that alter the open sandy habitat structure the iris requires. It is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Conservation efforts include habitat protection in a few coastal reserves, translocation programs, and cultivation in Israeli botanical gardens to secure genetic material against the extinction of remaining wild populations.