CLOSED: I think this one is Colletes halophilus

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bonitin Gent, Belgium(Zone 8a) Sep 07, 2007

My pictures were taken in a nature reserve located partly in the Netherlands and Belgium, called 'het Zwin'.

As the weather was very dull and cloudy and there was a hard wind and a lot of drift sand in the air, not very favorable for macro-photos, my pictures look not that sharp but hopefully well enough.
I also asked advise from a local study group that helped me with the ID of this one. It seems to be a rare one that has its specific habitat in the area I found it.
And I found this site to compare with mine;

http://www.nederpix.nl/album_page.php?pic_id=19992&sid=20e49667325aa1fef3632875c65b23dd

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bonitin Gent, Belgium(Zone 8a) Sep 07, 2007

another angle;

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bonitin Gent, Belgium(Zone 8a) Sep 07, 2007

another;

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bonitin Gent, Belgium(Zone 8a) Sep 07, 2007

and a last;

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wallaby1 Lincoln, United Kingdom(Zone 8a) Sep 07, 2007

I have read that these are nearly impossible to ID unless under a microscope, there are so many (again) which are similar! Look at these,

http://www.atlashymenoptera.net/page.asp?id=28

If the study group knows for sure this one is the only one in that area then I would say you could call it that, otherwise it is suspect!

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bonitin Gent, Belgium(Zone 8a) Sep 08, 2007

Well, the person in question said that there were three options; Colletes fodiens, Colletes hederae and Colletes halophilus.
As there was no hedera in the close proximity, being a vast area of wild dune vegetation the C.hederae was canceled out and the flying period of the C.fodiens seemed to have surpassed so there was left the C. halophilus and that particular one has been observed, though rarely, in the area I found it.
I have no idea though in how far an authority this person is.
But it seems to be a serious one as he afterwards contacted me by e-mail to ask the exact date and if there was the plant Limonium vulgare growing in the close proximity which was the case.

I got the ID through this site;

http://natuur-forum.be/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5119&whichpage=20 but I'm afraid that won't be of any use as the language is Flemish.

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wallaby1 Lincoln, United Kingdom(Zone 8a) Sep 08, 2007

I would say too that the person giving you the information knows his stuff! I would personally enter the picture in BugFiles with a note as to how the ID came about, giving how the other species were ruled out. I have often seen where the ID has been given as tentative or uncertain but still given a species name.

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bonitin Gent, Belgium(Zone 8a) Sep 08, 2007

Thanks, I will do that!

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