Excavator: Ground. Nothing seems to have been described concerning the nesting habits and development of this species within Europe.
In the Nearctic region the species is eusocial (Knerer & Atwood, 1962; Roberts, 1973), though lacking morphologically distinct female castes. L. Packer (pers. comm.) has found solitary, semi-social and eusocial nesting aggregations of this species in Canada. Unfortunately its rarity in Britain makes such investigations to confirm these findings very difficult.
North American females of this bee usually nest in dense aggregations in well drained soil free of
vegetation (Roberts, 1973). The cells are horizontal, being almost sessile on main vertical burrows
(Roberts figures a mature nest). Atwood (1933) found that in Nova Scotia the nesting burrows are concealed by debris, or open into dense tufts of grass; cells were few in number and heavily parasitized. Roberts (1973) describes the nesting biology of this species in some
detail.