Cliff Mining Bee vs Greenish Puffleg

Andrena thoracica compared with Haplophaedia aureliae

Key Differences

• Cliff Mining Bee is Extinct while Greenish Puffleg is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Cliff Mining Bee	Greenish Puffleg
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Arthropoda (Arthropods)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Insecta (Insects)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees & Wasps)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Andrenidae	Trochilidae
Genus	Andrena	Haplophaedia
Species	Andrena thoracica	Haplophaedia aureliae

Evolutionary Relationship

Cliff Mining Bee and Greenish Puffleg share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Cliff Mining Bee

EX — Extinct

Greenish Puffleg

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Cliff Mining Bee	Greenish Puffleg
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Cliff Mining Bee

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden.

Greenish Puffleg

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, and Norway.

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.

Greenish Puffleg

A small, greenish hummingbird of humid Andean forests in Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama, greenish pufflegs are named for the distinctive white fluffy leg puffs — feather tufts on the tarsi — shared by all members of the puffleg genus Haplophaedia. They inhabit forest edges and secondary growth at elevations of 800–2,100 meters, foraging for nectar at small flowering plants in the understory. Listed as Least Concern with relatively stable populations across their range.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 1 countries:

🇳🇴 Norway