Buff-tailed Mining Bee vs Common Spiny Digger Wasp

Andrena humilis compared with Oxybelus uniglumis

Key Differences

• Buff-tailed Mining Bee is Extinct while Common Spiny Digger Wasp is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Buff-tailed Mining Bee	Common Spiny Digger Wasp
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class same	Insecta (Insects)	Insecta (Insects)
Order same	Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees & Wasps)	Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees & Wasps)
Family	Andrenidae	Crabronidae
Genus	Andrena	Oxybelus
Species	Andrena humilis	Oxybelus uniglumis

Evolutionary Relationship

Buff-tailed Mining Bee and Common Spiny Digger Wasp share a common ancestor at the Order level: Hymenoptera. (Ants, Bees & Wasps)

Conservation Status

Buff-tailed Mining Bee

EX — Extinct

Common Spiny Digger Wasp

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Buff-tailed Mining Bee	Common Spiny Digger Wasp
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Buff-tailed Mining Bee

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden.

Common Spiny Digger Wasp

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Buff-tailed Mining Bee

The Buff-Tailed Mining Bee (Andrena humilis) is a species in the genus Andrena. It is currently classified as Extinct on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Common Spiny Digger Wasp

<em>Oxybelus uniglumis</em>, commonly known as the common spiny digger wasp, is a small solitary wasp in the family Crabronidae, widespread across Europe, North Africa, and parts of western Asia. This species typically inhabits sunny, open areas with sandy or loose soil, including sand dunes, sandy heathlands, path edges, and sparsely vegetated ground where females excavate burrows for nesting. Its geographic range extends from the British Isles and Scandinavia across continental Europe to the Mediterranean, with additional populations recorded across North Africa and into central Asia. Classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, <em>Oxybelus uniglumis</em> is among the more commonly encountered digger wasps in European sandy habitats. The species is a specialised predator of flies, particularly small dipterans from families such as Muscidae and Calliphoridae, which are paralysed and carried back to the burrow impaled on the female's sting to provision larval cells. This behaviour of impaling prey on the sting for transport is a distinctive characteristic of the genus Oxybelus. Biological traits such as average lifespan in years, precise body length measurements, and body weight remain poorly documented for this species. Adults are typically active from late spring through late summer.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 4 countries:

🇧🇪 Belgium 🇩🇰 Denmark 🇳🇴 Norway 🇸🇪 Sweden