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unknown wasp
This wasp was found on Tybee Island, GA. It was an extremely cold and windy day, it was hidden among these flowers. Any idea what it is?
Anthony
Hi Anthony,
This is not a wasp, but a Green Metallic Bee or Halictid Bee in the genus Agapostemon.
Bumble Bee Pic
Here’s a cute bumble bee picture for you. I don’t know what this flower is in my backyard but it attracts so many different bugs & I try to snap pics of them when I can. You’ve previously posted a cranefly pic I took on one of these flowers too. Thx, & again, your site is real cool.
Cindy
Ajax, ON CANADA
Hi Again Cindy,
We can’t believe we have not had a good Bumble Bee photo on our site until your submission.
burrowing bee
Dear Bugman –
Thanks for identifying my Sesiid moth – here’s another question. I apologize for the poor quality of the photo, but I barely had time to snap this pollen-laden bee before it burrowed into the sandy ground and disappeared. There was no sign of a tunnel or hole, it just dug in and vanished. This photo was taken in July at Pescadero Marsh, near the beach in California. Thanks so much for your great work!
Allison
Hi Allison,
We can’t give you an exact species because of the photo, but behavior leads us to believe this is a Digger Bee, genus Anthophora. These bees visit flowers and are often laden with pollen. Though solitary, they nest in colonies. According to the Audubon Guide: “Nest is contructed in clya or sand bank. Entrance is concealed by a downslanted chimney made of mud. The chimney and brood cells at ends of inner branching tunnels are thinly lined with mud. Each cell contains misture of honey and pollen plus 1 egg. Larvae feed, overwinter, and pupate in cell. Adults emerge in late spring.” So, there was a predug tunnel concealed by sand, allowing the bee to quickly disappear.
WHAT’S THE BUZZ??PAIR OF BUMBLE BEES MATING??
Hey Bugman!!
I came across this pair of bumblebees in my driveway..they definitely appeared to be making LITTLE BABY BUMBLEBEES. They were there for 3 hours..when I checked on them a few minutes ago..they..were GONE….apparently they flew off into the wild blue yonder. Happy Buggin’..or should I say..BUZZIN’!!
Dee Rocanello
East Islip, Long Island, NY
Hi Dee,
Thanks for the contribution.
A couple for you . .
Dear Bugman,
I love your nickname. I know (by Internet) a retired priest who’s nickname is the same because he does bugs for fun too! We live in western South Dakota just east of Rapid City, NOT in the Black Hills. I have two for you, one I think I have identified from your web site as metallic green bees, pollinating our sunflowers. They were everywhere when our sunflowers were in full spate! The other is a mystery – the closest I have gotten is that by "insect definitions" (which I know very little about) is that this is some kind of fly because it only has one pair of wings. There are actually two pictures taken on different days. Both were sucking on early sunflowers along with some (YOW!) yellowjacket wasps which I manged to avoid, phew! The closest on your site was a Bee Fly, and these were definitely not eating bees! These pretty much ignored me as when I took these macros, they did not move! One appears to onlt have on set of legs, but the second picture reveals three pairs. Bless you for a fantasic site, and not just for kids!!!
Diane in South Dakota
Hi Diane,
You sent us three copies of the Metallic Sweat Bees in the genus Agapostemon. The photo is wonderful.
need help identifying a bug
Help! We must have 100’s of what looks like anthills in our yard , but instead of ants coming out of them, we have these flying insects. They are good flyers and at this point, about 1 cm. Photo 2 is the whole
creature and 1 is a close up of the head. We live in Northern Virginia outside DC. Any help would be appreciated.
Jerry
Hi Jerry,
We wrote to Eric Eaton for some clarification on this, and he gave us this lengthy response:
“Neato! This person is privileged to be hosting large numbers of plasterer bees, genus Colletes, family Colletidae. They are solitary, each female excavating her own burrow, which branches into several cells underground. The bees get their common name from the fact that the female bee secretes from her body a natural polymer (that’s right, PLASTIC), with which she coats the inside of each cell. She makes a nectar and pollen “soup” that pools in the bottom, and she suspends a single egg from the ceiling. The larva that hatches feeds on the soup, which is kepf fresh and mold-free in the plastic baggie! Cool, huh? Colletes are among the many, many species of native, solitary bees we have in the U.S., and they are extremely valuable in pollinating wildflowers, as well as crops like alfalfa, cranberries, blueberries, and squashes that the non-native honey bees do not pollinate as efficiently, if at all. Plasterer bees are only locally common, so your “colony” may be the only one for miles, certainly the only one in the neighborhood.
Eric”
Hope that helps.
Baby spiders, bee, grasshopper
Hi! Thought you might enjoy these pix of: newly hatched linx spiders (hard to tell on small picture, but when I zoom in they look just like Mom), cute bee (maybe you can ID this one?), and a big grasshopper on a cactus. Thanks for the wonderful site.
Best Wishes,
Donna in San Diego
Hi Donna,
Thanks for the images of the Green Lynx Spiderlings. Your bee is a common Honey Bee, Apis mellifera and your grasshopper is a Gray Bird Grasshopper, Schistocerca nitens. The females can grow to 2 1/2 inches in length or larger.
Update from David Gracer
www.slshrimp.com
Honey Bees
In addition to honey itself, many species in the genus Apis are harvested for bee brood (the high-protein larvae in the honeycomb; the brood harvested from Apis laboriosa is called Bakuti in Nepalese. Notice that evocative Latin name). To the extent that they’re eaten at all, domestic honeybees are consumed almost exclusively at certain Entomology Department get-togethers. While most American beekeepers would shudder at the thought of harvesting their future worker bees as a food source, the larvae are vastly more nutritious than the honey, and from everything I’ve read they’re delicious. One of these days I will have to give it a try .
Bugman,
From your website it seems I have photographed a "Metallic Sweat Bee". This was taken 10/7/04 in West Greenwich Rhode Island. I have lived in this area for 40 years and never seen one. Is this appearance the result of the recent hurricanes?
Mike Raia
Hi Mike,
Nice photo of one of the metallic sweat bees, probably the Virescent Green Metallic Bee, Agapostemon virescens. Yours is a female. Female bees have the abdomen ringed in white and males in yellow. They range from Quebec to Florida, west to Texas, and also Oregon. For nests, they dig burrows in bare and sandy soil. Adults drink nectar, but collect pollen to feed the young.
What is this?
Hi Daniel,
I was happy to hear from you,and wanted to let you know that as soon as I can I will send some pictures for your site,things tend to go in cycles with me getting busier at certain times as well,however in the meantime I’m sending a picture,not resized to your sites specs, just the site it was submitted to,but just so you can see because I’m wondering if you can tell me what kind of insect this is…it acts like a bee,and I’ve seen them around my yard a lot,and have always called them little green bees,but I have no clue as to what they actually are,I live in South Florida,near the Fort Lauderdale area. I submit to photography sites,so most likely I’ll be asked by everyone what it is,I’m really hoping you’ll know!!!
Thanks very much,
Beth Bernier
Hi Beth,
Your photo is absolutely gorgeous. We were unsure exactly what your beautiful metallic insect was. It is colored like a sweat bee or a cuckoo wasp, but its body form resembled a fly more. The telltale feature of a fly is that they have two and not four wings. We are turning to a more knowledgeable source:
“Dear Daniel: Boy, that sure does look like an orchid bee in the genus Euglossa, but as far as I know, they are found strictly south of the Mexican border. I suppose it could be a recent introduction (or something else I am unfamiliar with), Definitely an apid bee of some sort. Thanks for sharing!
Sincerely,
Eric”
Later Eric wrote back
Euglossa bee? Daniel:
Here is a real expert answer as to what the bee is (it is a Euglossa sp.), and how it might have turned up so far out of its normal range.
Eric
Dear Friends, esp. Doug Y:
I think this is a Euglossa sp. bee, but what would it be doing in Ft. Lauderdale???
Obviously, it’s visiting flowers. 
At any rate, this is not surprising, given that it’s a well-known phenomenon for hurricanes to move insects around. Many, MANY of the odd US records for Mexican lepidoptera coincide with major storms – and I certainly think this year would qualify as a major storm year. So, I would expect such a stray to be a meaningless data point, especially as it’s a male Euglossa – though if there’s one, there may be more, and if that includes some fertilized females, then who knows? Climatically, there isn’t really any obvious reason southern Florida couldn’t support orchid bees. If there are repeated sightings in the future, then at least we have some evidence pointing to this being the year the invasion might have occurred.
Peace,
Doug Yanega
Dept. of Entomology, Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California – Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521-0314
phone: (951) 827-4315
(standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR’s)
http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
Hi Daniel,
Well that’s quite exciting news!!! If your expert friends are interested..I can tell you that these bees have been here at least a year,perhaps longer as I have been trying to get a good photo of one for at least that long,and there have been at a few bees present most times,they seem to love my wild morning glories,as well as the flowers shown in the image,in fact they seem to be quite attracted to any flower in the violet/blue color. I’ve also seen them before at a nearby nature preserve called Fern Forest.My exact address is 5500 SW 6th Court in Margate,Fl. That’s so an exact location can be noted,also if there’s anyone that wishes to contact me about the bees for scientific purposes please feel free to give them my email address. Thank you again for your help!
Beth
Update: (12/14/2006)
Hello my name is Lance I have seen this bug as well in South Florida. It is bright green and an incredible flier. I have seen this bug hover in a single spot as still as a statue, then very quickly dart just a couple of inches over left or right or forward. I wish I could get a picture of it. It went into a hole it made or something else made burrowed into concrete….perhaps building a nest….I just wanted you all to know the behavior so maybe it would help better understand it….maybe a new kind of bug
Need help identifying beetle species
Hi there…
I was looking at your beetle database trying to identify this one. At first I thought it’s part of Dynastes tityus female, then I notice that the back is totally different. It’s a big one though. I would say at least 2”.
Regards,
Amrul Isham Ismail
Hi Amrul Isham Ismail,
You don’t have a beetle at all, but what appears to be a Carpenter Bee. We really like your action photos.
Hi,
I am scratching all over after seeing the pictures of the bugs on your site… My boys caught a bug today and put it in a jar (boys will be boys) and asked me what it was. Now, I am no bug woman so I found you on the web…. It’s got three pairs of fuzzy black legs, Two wings that are a shiny blueish-green. Its body is in three parts. It’s got two mandibles (is that what those things on the mouth are called??). It looks like a giant fuzzy spider/bee!! I am reading this and I can’t
believe it!!! Well, I hope I have given enough info for you to start identifying this thing in a jar right next to me!!!!!! (eeek!)
Thanks,
Cynthia
Hi Cynthia,
Might be a Carpenter Bee. All insects have
six legs and three body parts, so that is a general description. Bees are often hairy, so your guess might be correct.
Thanks, I don’t think it’s a carpenter bee cause it is much bigger (2.5 to 3 cm). The body (the third part) is like a shiny black slinky and is fuzzy on the edges. I tried to take pictures of it, here is one : Boy, what a mommy will do for her boys, and thank god there are people who have the info!!
Thanks again,
cynthia
Hi again Cynthia,
We are fairly sure that is a Carpenter Bee. Don’t know where you are writing from or what the species is.
Hey Bugman,
I tried accessing your site but it was down due to too much traffic. Congratulations, I guess!! 
Anyway, yesterday I noticed about 5-6 really large bees hovering outside my screened porch in Birmingham, AL. They weren’t digging in the wood, just walking all over the screen, like they were trying to nest there. Today, there must have been 2-3 dozen of them. I sprayed them repeatedly, many died, but most came back for more.
Needless to say, we were totally icked out and want these large things gone if possible. Can you tell us who this is that has invaded our home. I’ve attached a picture that shows three of them after they’ve been nuked and out in the sun for some time. What are these scary invaders? Thanks for your help and your great insight and web site.
Sincerely,
Ben Fineburg
Dear Ben Fineburg,
Yes, we are down due to heavy traffic, thanks in part to the USA Today Hot Site selection on 7 June. We have just paid for an upgrade and expect to be back up within 24 hours. Your bees look similar, but slenderer than our California Carpenter Bees. It is possible that a female dug a burrow and her brood has recently emerged. Young bees will rest awhile before taking flight. Carpenter Bees can cause considerable damage to wood, but they generally are not aggressive and are reluctant to sting. They are solitary bees, meaning they do not form a hive proper. A female will excavate a burrow in the wood and lay several dozen eggs. Like I said, your specimens look slender, but they could be Xylocopa virginica or a close relative.
