the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > superfamily Apoidea (bees) > bee that nests in the ground
1849 C. Brontë III. ii. 36 The nest..of some ground-bees, who had burrowed in the turf under an old cherry-tree.
1890 F. D. Lugard 17 Apr. (1959) I. 195 Found ground bees' nest, and tried to dig it out, but it was some 16 inches down.