Chocolate Mining Bee vs Fly Agaric

Andrena carantonica compared with Amanita muscaria

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Chocolate Mining Bee	Fly Agaric
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Fungi (Fungi)
Phylum	Arthropoda (artrópodos)	Basidiomycota (Club Fungi)
Class	Insecta (insecto)	Agaricomycetes (Mushrooms)
Order	Hymenoptera (himenópteros)	Agaricales (Gilled Mushrooms)
Family	Andrenidae	Agaricaceae (Agarics)
Genus	Andrena	Amanita (Amanitas)
Species	Andrena carantonica	Amanita muscaria

Conservation Status

Chocolate Mining Bee

LC — Least Concern

Fly Agaric

LC — Least Concern

Trend: Stable →

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Chocolate Mining Bee	Fly Agaric
Diet	—	Decomposer
Average Lifespan	—	1 years
Average Length	—	20 cm
Average Weight	—	100 g

Habitat & Geographic Range

Chocolate Mining Bee

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden.

Fly Agaric

Habitat

Typically found in forest floors, decomposing wood, and soil ecosystems.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (4 countries), North America (United States), Oceania and the Pacific (New Zealand), and South America (Brazil, Chile, Colombia).

Chocolate Mining Bee

The Chocolate Mining Bee (Andrena carantonica) is a medium-sized solitary bee in the family Andrenidae, native to Europe and extending across temperate Eurasia. Mining bees of the genus Andrena are ground-nesting bees that excavate burrows in soft or sandy soils, creating underground cells provisioned with pollen and nectar as larval food. Andrena carantonica is one of several spring-emerging Andrena species associated with fruit trees and spring-flowering plants; females frequently visit the flowers of apple, cherry, hawthorn, willow, and other early-season species, making them important pollinators of both wild plants and orchard crops. The species is often an early-season visitor alongside other spring bees, making it an important pollination service provider before managed honeybee colonies are at full strength. Males typically emerge before females, patrolling host plant patches in search of mates. The species is eusocial in the broad sense, with females sometimes nesting in loose aggregations in favoured soil sites. The IUCN classifies Andrena carantonica as Least Concern; it is one of the more widespread and frequently recorded Andrena species across its range. Threats to mining bee populations generally include loss of nesting habitat (bare ground), loss of floral resources through agricultural intensification, and pesticide use.

Fly Agaric

El matamoscas (Amanita muscaria) es uno de los hongos más icónicos y reconocibles de la Tierra, con llamativos sombreros rojos con manchas blancas en los bosques boreales del hemisferio norte. A pesar de su apariencia de cuento de hadas, contiene potentes compuestos psicoactivos como muscimol y ácido iboténico y es moderadamente tóxico. Forma simbiosis micorrícicas esenciales con abedules, pinos y abetos, intercambiando nutrientes minerales por carbono y desempeñando roles fundamentales en el ciclo de nutrientes de los bosques boreales.