Further to the Blue Banded Bee
Location: Queensland
February 1, 2012 6:52 pm
Hi guys,
As pointed out in the link you provided on my previous picture, the males of this species cluster together and hang by their jaws (?)at night from a grass stem or leaf. Here is a shot taken late afternoon on a very overcast day of a pair settling in for the night.
Signature: aussietrev

Blue Banbed Bees

Hi Trevor,
Thanks for sending this further documentation to augment your original submission of a Blue Banded Bee.  Aggregations of male Solitary Bees bedding down together for the night, a phenomenon known as a bachelor party, is not an unknown occurrence on our website.

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Meet at the Red Barn in Elyria Canyon Park at 9:30 AM.

From Left: Clare, Elizabeth, Jerry, Monique, Mark, Julia and Julia with her dog on a leash.

The Coyote Melon is a squash plant that has taken root in the meadow near the big dead walnut tree, and it is beginning to set fruit.  This sprawling plant is a native and it can be found wild on the hill on a winding hairpin curve above La Abeja restaurant on the East Side of Mt Washington in the Greater Cypress Park Neighborhood.

Coyote Melon Plant

We expect native bees are pollinating the blossoms and perhaps getting trapped inside when the blossoms close.

Coyote Melon Blossoms

For more information on the Coyote Melon or Coyote Gourd, Cucurbita palmata, visit Cold Splinters.  There are some beautiful photos on Northern California Flora.

Two unripe Coyote Melons

Update:  September 25, 2011
Due to a very low turnout of volunteers and the absence of one of the cohosts, the work party ended a bit early today after plants in the nursery were watered and some Castor Beans and Poison Hemlock were pulled out.

leaf cutter tragedy
Location: western Washington
August 15, 2011 8:33 pm
This year I planted hanging buckets of tomatoes and peppers. One of the planter types turned out to be disasterous as they failed one, after the other. The last one, with pepper plants well along, exposed one dead bee and around ten little cigar tips. I recovered the plant, then scooped up the (mostly peat) filling and cases into a ceramic planter. Is there anything I can do to encouage the larva to continue?
Signature: kimmiee

Leafcutter Bee Nest Tragedy

Hi kimmiee,
We are sorry to hear about both the loss of your produce garden and the resulting tragedy of the Leafcutter Bee nest.  You have probably done all that you can do.  We would suggest keeping the peat and the nest in a sheltered location and ensuring that it does not dry out and desiccate the nest.  As long as the individual cells were not damaged, there is a chance the bee larvae might survive.  Even if your well intentioned intervention fails, we are awarding you a Bug Humanitarian Award for your valiant efforts.

Before I accept this award, I’d like to thank all the little bees……
For providing me with beautiful flowers, tasty fruits, a myriad of grains, and hours of enjoyment in my garden.
;-> Kim

We love short and sweet acceptance speeches.

gardening blog update:  August 18, 2011
In our opinion, peppers and tomatoes should not be planted in hanging baskets except for ornamental purposes.  Do not expect the kind of harvest you will get out of tomatoes planted in the ground in a favorable location.

Update:  August 29, 2011
You said (re:Leaf cutter Tragedy)
gardening blog update:  August 18, 2011
“In our opinion, peppers and tomatoes should not be planted in hanging baskets except for ornamental purposes.  Do not expect the kind of harvest you will get out of tomatoes planted in the ground in a favorable location.”
Normally I would agree with you.  Living on the Western side of Northern Washington, it is often tricky, to get tomatoes to ripen.  This year was especially hard because unlike the rest of the country, we were very cool well into the middle of July.  So I’ve been pretty pleased that I am getting ripe tomatoes and, in fact, I’ve gotten two peppers off the plant that tried to suicide with the leaf cutters nest.  I stuffed it into an other (fabric) hanging pot and it has recovered better than I expected.  There are other pepper varieties in that planter, and while they have done fairly well vegitatively, I suspect I won’t get any peppers off them.  But, hope springs eternal, and if we get decent weather through October, there could be some.
The hanging planters have enabled me to place multiple plants in a small corner of the yard which achieves maximum sun exposure.  I’ve been religious about watering them solidly every day.
Kim

Kim's Hanging Tomato Plant

Thanks for the update Kim.  Watering a hanging basket would be an important factor in getting a yield out of plants.  We did not mean to imply that vegetables should not be grown in hanging baskets, just that planting in the ground will most likely give larger plants and a better harvest.  Did you get positive results with the Leafcutter Bee nest relocation?

Update:  August 31, 2011
All I can say regarding the nest is that some of the tubes are still intact.  I sort of assumed that they may not hatch (fledge? emerge?) until next spring, or at all.  The peat was disturbed right after I picked them up by the squirrels in the yard, and a couple of the tubes were ripped open but I’ve now inverted the bowl and propped it to provide both cover and ventilation…  It is in a brick planter, under an evergreen.  So, it’s not being dried out, and it doesn’t get enough direct light to bake… But I haven’t disturbed it since to inspect the tubes.  Maybe this weekend I’ll work up the courage to look and see if I can identify any changes….

Thanks for the update.  Let us know if there is any activity next spring.

Update:  September 9, 2011
I said I would look, so I did.  What I found was… not much.  It appears that most of the wonderful cigar tips were just gone, although I did see an occasional hint of a tube or the lacy leftovers of one of the cut pieces.  I also found the little beads you see in the picture.  Again, not knowing enough about the life cycle, I’m not sure at what I am looking.
I know in some of the the original tubes which were destroyed, there was a definite layering effect visible which I took to be piled up pollen with an egg or larva on top.  I should have attempted a picture of that.  These don’t seem to be the same, is it a pupa?
If so, I would surmise at least some of the original group are already out there pollinating again.
Kim

Is this related to the Leafcutter Bees?

Hi Kim,
We are not certain what your new photo depicts, but we will post the photo and try to do some research.  This might not even be related to the Bees.

Bees doing a dance on dead apple tree branch

Cuckoo Leafcutting Bee

Bees doing a dance on dead apple tree branch
Location: Henderson, NV (Near Black Mountain)
July 18, 2011 11:42 pm
We had two little bees (around 1.5-2.0 cm) doing a dance on a dead branch of an Apple tree around sunset today (July 18) One bee would grab hold of the end of the branch with its Mandibles and front legs, fold its wings, and stretch out the back legs straight. When the second bee flew around, the first would arch its back up for a little until the second would land, then fly off.
I looked through this site and http://bugguide.net/ – but couldn’t quite classify it, maybe a Mining Bee?
Signature: Dan

Battling Cuckoo Leafcutting Bees

Hi Dan,
First, we must compliment you on an awesome series of photos of what we believe to be some species of Sand Wasp in the tribe Bembicini (see BugGuide) engaging in what appears to be a courting and mating “dance”.  We are going to try to enlist the assistance of Eric Eaton to confirm our identification and perhaps to provide more specificity.

Battling Cuckoo Leafcutting Bees

Eric Eaton provides a correction
Daniel:
These are actually cuckoo leafcutter bees in the genus Coelioxys.  They are both females.  The first image shows one in its “sleeping” posture, gripping the bud with its jaws.  I think the second specimen wanted to displace the first one since good sleeping quarters are in short supply (?).  So, it is a battle, not mating
Coelioxys are kleptoparasites of leafcutter bees in the genus Megachile.  The female Coelioxys lays her egg in the nest of her host.  The larva that hatches then eats (steals) the pollen and nectar stored by the host bee.
Eric