Category: Melissodes
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Dark-veined and Agile longhorn bees (Melissodes trinodis/agilis)
Apidae > Melissodes > Melissodes trinodis / Melissodes agilis If you grow sunflowers in your backyard garden, you won’t have to go very far to find one of this pair of longhorn bees Melissodes trinodis and Melissodes agilis. Separating this species pair in the field is difficult (especially males), and both members have a strong…
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Melissodes
It can be tricky to get a good look at a Melissodes–males rarely stop for long on flowers and females forage for pollen quite energetically. Luckily, males always have very long antennae and females, despite having short antennae, have big brushes of scopal hairs on their hind legs, earning them the affectionate name of chap-legged…
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Thistle longhorn bee (Melissodes desponsus)
Apidae > Melissodes > Melissodes desponsus Eastern thistle longhorn bee (Melissodes desponsus) can be found buried deep in the frills of a thistle. This late-summer longhorn bee is always found close to its thistle (Cirsium spp.) host plants. Females are large and robust, with a pale thorax and all-black abdomen, but don’t be fooled into…
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Drury’s longhorn bee (Melissodes druriellus)
Apidae > Melissodes > Melissodes druriellus Drury’s longhorn bee (Melissodes druriellus) is yet another player in the marvelous theater of goldenrods and asters. Females have a distinctive “banded” thorax created by a cinnamon stripe on the apical half. Look for these bees in August and September, but you’ll have to be fast to catch a…
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Two-spotted longhorn bee (Melissodes bimaculatus)
Apidae > Melissodes > Melissodes bimaculatus Two-spotted longhorn bee (Melissodes bimaculatus) is one of the most distinctive bees in the northeast. Jet-black, with a zippy flight, and a tendency to visit common garden plants, M. bimaculatus is straightforward to find and identify in summer. Intriguingly, this species has a penchant for foraging on common agricultural…