Category: whats-my-bee
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Golden abdomen
This category includes just a single species: honey bee Apis mellifera. This is the only species in the region with a bright golden abdomen with diffuse black bands. Apis mellifera Doesn’t match? Go back to the start.
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Smaller longhorn bees
These bees are peanut-sized, fuzzy, and common in backyard gardens. Females carry pollen in large bundles on hind scopae and males have long antennae, sometimes as long as the length of their bodies. Melissodes Peponapis Doesn’t match? Go back one step or to the start.
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Bumble bees and lookalikes
This group contains several genera that all follow the same general coloration pattern of dark head, light thorax hairs, and hairy black and light yellow abdomen. Bombus Xylocopa Anthophora Habropoda Ptilothrix Doesn’t match? Go back one step to the start.
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Big and fuzzy
This group is falls out into two categories of fuzzy bees: 1) big bumble bees and bumble bee-mimics and 2) smaller longhorn bees Doesn’t match? Go back to the start.
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Colorful metallic
There are several different genera represented by this category. They fall into two main groups: bright green and dark blue. Bright green metallic Note: distinguishing between Augochlora, Augochlorella, and Augochloropsis in the field is quite challenging if you’re not prepared for it. Collectively, bees in these three genera belong to the tribe Augochlorini or, colloquially,…
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Dark metallic
Bees in this category belong are likely in one of two genera: Lasioglossum (Dialictus) or Halictus. Lasioglossum Halictus Doesn’t match? Go back one step or to the start.
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Metallic
Bees in this category fall into two broad groups: dark metallic and colorful metallic (blue and green). For your bee to be in this category, its integument must be shiny and reflect light like a metal. Doesn’t match? Go back to the start.
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Slender with a pointy abdomen
Your bee is most likely Coelioxys, a cleptoparasite of leafcutter bees (Megachilidae). Coelioxys Doesn’t match? Go back one step or to the start.
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Tiny and dark
Your wasp-like bee likely belongs to the genus Hylaeus. These tiny, wasp-like bees are not very hairy since they carry pollen internally. You often encounter them on flat, umbelliferous flowers like Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) or fennel (Foeniculum vulgare). Look for white or yellow markings on the face. Hylaeus Hylaeus are always matte black.…
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Red
A red wasp-like bee is most likely in one of two genera of cleptoparasites. Both are often seen on the ground or hovering over the ground near their host’s nests. Doesn’t match? Go back one step or to the start.