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
¶ Posted 20 July 2011 § ‡ ° What kind of bug made this?
Location: Cleveland Ohio
July 12, 2011. 6:00 PM
Hi bugman we live in the Cleveland area in Ohio and we found this cocoon and we do not know what kind of bug is in it. I took it apart and found it had 4 sections to it. This thing is amazing it is made of rolled up leaves.incredible.
Norman
Nest of a Leafcutter Bee
Hi Norman,
This is the nest of a Leafcutter Bee in the genus Megachile. According to the It’s Nature website: “The female constructs a nests in tree cavities and various gaps, sometimes even on the ground. These nests have a complex structure of many tunnels and compartments for the larvae. Leaf-cutter bees have incredible construction skills – they skillfully choose the best leaf “material” for their nests and glue it with their saliva, resulting in a sturdy being built. The favourite material for these bees is rose leaves and flowers.” We are post dating your letter to go live on Friday while we are out of the office.
¶ Posted 15 July 2011 § ‡ ° Could you help me identify this bee?
Location: Colorado Springs CO
June 30, 2011 10:34 am
I grow a lot of flowers to attract bees. I was hoping you could identify this one for me.
Signature: ?
European Wool Carder Bee
Dear ?,
You submitted two different species. One is a Longhorned Bee and the second is the one we are really interested in posting, a European Wool Carder Bee, Anthidium manicatum. This introduced species is only represented on our site with two postings from 2006. According to BugGuide: “Females collect ‘wool’ from downy plants such as Lamb’s Ears to line their nest cavities” and “Males defend their territory very aggressively not only against other males but also against other flower visitors.”
Thank you for your response. Sorry I miss understood the “how to address the letter. My name is Eva. That is very interesting to see that the European Wool Bee has only been represented on your site so few times. I did submit a photo to the facebook site. Feel free to use the photos if needed. Best wishes, Eva
¶ Posted 30 June 2011 § ‡ ° interesting red ’bee’?
Location: west flank of west flank coastal mountains above pescadero, california
May 26, 2011 9:14 pm
found this pollinator on a ceanothus blossom, above pescadero, california. i’ve searched through google without success. can you provide any information? this is purely a curiosity question so there is absolutely no hurry. i am an ardent gardener and am in the early stages of introducing bee hives to our san francisco neighborhood.
thank you!!!
Signature: chris dillon, san francisco, ca.
Solitary Bee
Hi Chris,
We are supposed to be reducing the number of images we need for our presentation at Theodore Payne Foundation tomorrow, and your photo would be an excellent addition. We agree that this is a Solitary Bee, but we haven’t the time this morning to research the species. It sure is a pretty little bee.
Update:
Perhaps this is the Mining Bee, Andrena prima, which is represented on BugGuide from Oklahoma and Arizona.
good morning, daniel!
i’d be delighted to have you use my “red bee” image! i love taking pictures of insects…& being recently retired, i can now do so more attentively. i have a battered, because i’m clumsy(!), little canon power shot camera which suits my purpose very well. i had a wonderful time capturing this image!
she is beautiful!
the red bee was the only one of her type amongs a busy crew of more traditional honeybees and two very loudly buzzing, seemingly irritable & frantic, huge glittering black solitary bees. they were all engaged in harvesting from both fremontia and ceanothus plants/trees. the red bee pictured was much less “vivacious” than her associates. she systematically and thoroughly explored each petal of each flower which she chose to settle upon. i was at yerba buena nursery, a magical native plant resource, which is somewhat isolated on the western flank of the coastal mountains, between santa cruz and san francisco. kathy, the owner, was able to provide info on the black bees.
thank you for your request! i’ll now search for the theodore payne foundation which you mentioned…this retirement life certainly opens many “learning portals”!
chris
¶ Posted 27 May 2011 § ‡ ° Daniel, A native bee on my bush sunflower
Location: South Pasadena, CA
May 27, 2011 2:30 am
At least I think it’s a native bee. It’s not a honey bee, and the flower is a native. As a secondary identification request, I’m curious about what voracious and unseen bug is eating the flowers
Signature: Barbara
Long-Horned Bee
Hi Barbara,
This is a Long-Horned Bee in the tribe Eucerini, but we are not certain of the species. We spent the entire morning editing the presentation for tomorrow, and just when we whittled the images down to the best, you send in this candidate.
¶ Posted 27 May 2011 § ‡ ° Larvae on a Log
Location: Audubon, PA
May 26, 2011 9:16 am
Dear WTB, While I was reorganizing my woodpile, I came across this larvae nest and found it very interesting. I never saw anything like it before. After I took the picture and scraped the nest off of my log, the yellow substance was a really fine powder, kind of like pollen. Do you have any idea what these little worms will turn into?
Signature: Cheryl
- Possibly Bee Nest provisioned with Pollen
Dear Cheryl,
Please forgive us. We absolutely cannot research this tonight. It was a long day (14 hours of teaching, monitoring, attending awards and scholarship presentations, and conducting SLO assessments. The students actually accused us of being grouchy today. The end of the semester is rough. Enough of that. We believe this is a Solitary Bee Nest and we believe the yellow substance is Pollen. Time will tell.
Megachile?
Location: Hawthorne, California
December 10, 2010 6:27 pm
Just wondering if I have this bee correctly identified. If you can tell me what the other two guys are on the bloom in one of the photos, I’d be most appreciative.
Signature: Thanks, Anna
Leaf Cutting Bee
Hi Anna,
There is a good chance that your bee is a Leaf Cutting Bee in the genus Megachile. This is a genus that has been split into numerous subgenera, as evidences by the taxonomy on bugGuide.
Ed. Note: May 21, 2011
Now is one of those times that being more aware of insect anatomy and not making identifications based on superficial visual identifications would come in handy. We no longer believe this is a Leaf Cutter Bee. We don’t believe any Leaf Cutter Bees gather pollen on their legs. It looks like this native Bee is gathering pollen on its legs, or perhaps it just has long yellow hairs on its legs. We wish someone would write in and give us a clear cut explanation of what species of Bee this is. I am going to include more native Bees in my Theodore Payne Foundation talk on Saturday, 28 May, 2011 at 1:00 PM.
Probably Plant Bugs with Leaf Cutting Bee
We believe the tiny Hemipterans in your photo are probably Plant Bugs in the family Miridae, but your photo isn’t detailed enough to provide any tangible evidence toward that speculation. According to Bugguide, Plant Bugs in the family Miridae are usually “adults 2-15 mm.“
Quite Possibly a Plant Bug
Update from Anna: August 20, 2011
Hi Daniel,
I finally got an answer from Steve Thoenes:
“I asked my friend Steve Buchmann and he wrote the top one (on pink flower) is an Anthophora female, not sure of the species.”
Hope this is of some help,
Is this a bee?
September 7, 2009
This insect was photographed in in early September, it looks a lot like a digger bee but it’s eyes are brown and not green. I have searched the net and all of my bug books but can’t ID it! Help!
Thanks, Rhonda
Tucson, AZ
Digger Bee
Hi Rhonda,
Our first inclination is that this is some species of Carpenter Bee, but it doesn’t match the images on BugGuide. We will check with Eric Eaton who may be able to assist in the ID.
Correction from Eric Eaton
Daniel:
Wow, what a fantastic image of a very active bee, a female in the genus Centris, family
Apidae. I hope Rhonda considers posting this to Bugguide, as we have few high-quality images of this genus. Dr. John Ascher is an expert on bees, and he visits Bugguide frequently.. He could probably identify this specimen to species. Centris bees are solitary, like the overwhelming majority of native bee species, each female digging her own nest burrow.
Eric
Daniel,
Thanks for the prompt reply- and thank you and Eric Eaton for the ID- wonder how he knew it is female, amazing! If you want to post this image to Bugguide, you have my permission to do so, if you need a higher res photo just let me know (please include photo credits). Thank you again for the help.
Rhonda Spencer
Correction courtesy of John Ascher
April 22, 2012
Centris rhodopus female
¶ Posted 08 September 2009 § ‡ ° 
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