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Green Headed Bee or Wasp?
I have been watching these insects make a nest that looks like a miniature volcano. I thought they were wasps but after reading that digging wasps are solitary and that wasp young are carnivorous, I have come to think this is a bee. I have searched many sites and can find nothing that resembles this. These bees? go to nearby flowers, drink nectar and collect pollen on there legs. One can see the pollen balls on the one returning to the nest There is a parade of these going and coming all day long. I would like to know what these are and what their life cycle is. I have been watching bugs most of my 72 years and have never seen anything like this. Thanks for any info you can provide.
Dan Hollands
Webster NY

Hi Dan,
These are Green Metallic Bees in the genus Agapostemon, probably Agapostemon virescens. Green Metallic Bees are Sweat Bees in the family Halictidae. According to BugGuide, they are primitively Eusocial, meaning that they nest socially, but the structure is not as complex as the social structure of a honey bee hive.

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