Blackthorn Mining Bee vs Common Crabgrass

Andrena varians compared with Digitaria ciliaris

Key Differences

• Blackthorn Mining Bee is Least Concern while Common Crabgrass is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Blackthorn Mining Bee	Common Crabgrass
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees & Wasps)	Poales (Grasses)
Family	Andrenidae	Poaceae (Grass Family)
Genus	Andrena	Digitaria
Species	Andrena varians	Digitaria ciliaris

Conservation Status

Blackthorn Mining Bee

LC — Least Concern

Common Crabgrass

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Blackthorn Mining Bee	Common Crabgrass
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.

Common Crabgrass

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (8 countries), Asia (8 countries), Europe (18 countries), North America (10 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (12 countries), and South America (5 countries).

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.

Common Crabgrass

<em>Digitaria ciliaris</em>, commonly known as common crabgrass or southern crabgrass, is an annual grass in the family Poaceae. It has a near-cosmopolitan distribution, occurring across tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate regions on multiple continents. This species typically colonizes disturbed habitats including lawns, gardens, roadsides, cultivated fields, and waste ground, making it one of the most widespread grass weeds in the world. Common crabgrass spreads rapidly via its sprawling, branching stems that root at the nodes when they contact moist soil. It produces slender, finger-like racemes bearing small, paired spikelets. The species thrives in warm weather and full sun, declining with the onset of cooler autumn temperatures. While it is considered a troublesome weed in many agricultural and horticultural contexts, it also provides ground cover and food for various seed-eating birds. Biological traits of this species remain poorly documented in the scientific literature.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 3 countries:

🇩🇰 Denmark 🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden