Sea Aster Cellophane Bee

Colletes halophilus is a striking short-tongued mining bee which has its thorax coated with reddish brown hair, and a black abdomen with contrasting pale whitish to yellow bands. The females are larger and brighter than the males. C. halophilus adults have a length of 11–14 mm. There are two similar western European bee species—the ivy bee (Colletes hederae) and the common colletes (Colletes succintus)—but these are ecologically separated from C. halophilus.

Colletes halophilus has a highly restricted distribution, being found in coastal eastern England from Spurn Point southward along the east coast past the Thames Estuary, and along the south coast as far as Hampshire and easternmost Dorset. Outside England, C. halophilus has a restricted distribution on the Atlantic coastal regions of western Europe, from the Frisian Islands in the north to the Bay of Biscay coasts of south western France.