Blue-eared Kingfisher vs Clover Melitta
Alcedo meninting compared with Melitta leporina
Key Differences
- Blue-eared Kingfisher is Least Concern while Clover Melitta is Near Threatened.
Taxonomic Classification
| Rank | Blue-eared Kingfisher | Clover Melitta |
|---|---|---|
| Kingdom same | Animalia (Animals) | Animalia (Animals) |
| Phylum | Chordata (Chordates) | Arthropoda (Arthropods) |
| Class | Aves (Birds) | Insecta (Insects) |
| Order | Coraciiformes (Coraciiformes) | Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees & Wasps) |
| Family | Alcedinidae | Melittidae |
| Genus | Alcedo | Melitta |
| Species | Alcedo meninting | Melitta leporina |
Evolutionary Relationship
Blue-eared Kingfisher and Clover Melitta share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)
Conservation Status
Blue-eared Kingfisher
LC — Least ConcernClover Melitta
NT — Near ThreatenedPhysical Characteristics
| Attribute | Blue-eared Kingfisher | Clover Melitta |
|---|---|---|
| Diet | — | — |
| Average Lifespan | — | — |
| Average Length | — | — |
| Average Weight | — | — |
Habitat & Geographic Range
Blue-eared Kingfisher
Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.
Found in Norway.
Clover Melitta
Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.
Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden. Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.
Blue-eared Kingfisher
The Blue-eared Kingfisher (Alcedo meninting) is a species in the genus Alcedo. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.
Clover Melitta
The clover Melitta (Melitta leporina) is a solitary bee in the family Melittidae, order Hymenoptera, with a distribution centered on temperate Europe including Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden. Unlike social bees, Melitta species are ground-nesting solitary bees in which each female constructs and provisions her own nest independently. M. leporina is oligolectic — highly specialized in its pollen collection — gathering pollen almost exclusively from leguminous plants, particularly clovers (Trifolium), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), and related species in the family Fabaceae. This specialization makes the bee closely dependent on the availability of flowering legume patches within foraging distance of nesting sites. Nest sites are in bare or sparsely vegetated sandy or loamy soils, often in sunny, sheltered locations such as road embankments, field margins, and sandy grasslands. Adults fly from midsummer through early autumn in a single annual generation. M. leporina is classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, reflecting declining populations across much of its European range due to agricultural intensification, loss of flower-rich grasslands, reduction in diverse legume cultivation, and loss of suitable open nesting habitat. Conservation of M. leporina depends on maintaining semi-natural grassland habitats with diverse flowering legumes and accessible sandy soils for nesting, along with reduction of pesticide use that harms adult foraging and larval survival.
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