Blistered Rock Tripe vs Cliff Mining Bee

Umbilicaria hyperborea compared with Andrena thoracica

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Blistered Rock Tripe	Cliff Mining Bee
Kingdom	Fungi (Fungi)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Ascomycota (Sac Fungi)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class	Lecanoromycetes (Lecanoromycetes)	Insecta (Insects)
Order	Umbilicariales (Umbilicariales)	Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees & Wasps)
Family	Umbilicariaceae	Andrenidae
Genus	Umbilicaria	Andrena
Species	Umbilicaria hyperborea	Andrena thoracica

Conservation Status

Blistered Rock Tripe

EX — Extinct

Cliff Mining Bee

EX — Extinct

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Blistered Rock Tripe	Cliff Mining Bee
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Blistered Rock Tripe

Habitat

Native to Europe and North America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Distributed across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and United States.

Cliff Mining Bee

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden.

Blistered Rock Tripe

The Blistered Rock Tripe (Umbilicaria hyperborea) is a species in the genus Umbilicaria. It is currently classified as Extinct on the IUCN Red List. Native to Europe and North America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Cliff Mining Bee

The Cliff Mining Bee, Andrena species in the family Andrenidae, is a solitary ground-nesting bee that excavates tunnels in cliff faces, earthen banks, and compacted sandy or loamy soils, where the loose or friable substrates exposed in cliff profiles provide ideal nesting conditions. Mining bees in the genus Andrena are among the most species-rich solitary bee genera in the world, with hundreds of species across the Holarctic region, many narrowly specialized in their choice of pollen host plants. Female cliff mining bees construct vertical or angled burrows in cliff faces, with lateral cells off the main shaft, each containing a pollen ball and a single egg. Males are typically smaller and emerge before females to establish territories near nesting sites. Many Andrena species are oligolectic, collecting pollen from only a small number of plant species, making their populations sensitive to the availability of specific flowering plants in the landscape surrounding nesting areas. Cliff and bank nesting habitats provide well-drained, sun-warmed substrates essential for brood development. The loss of natural cliff faces and earthen banks to development, vegetation succession, and quarrying reduces available nesting habitat for cliff mining bees.