• Family: Halictidae
• Approximate # species in region: 26
• Common name: blood bees

Sphecodes are a group of diverse and enigmatic cleptoparasites. Members of this genus are thought to predominately parasitize nests of other ground or wood-nesting bees, mainly Lasioglossum, but also Halictus, Agapostemon, Augochlorella, Andrena, Perdita, and Calliopsis. Deciphering the host associations of Sphecodes can be quite a challenge because their phenology does not always mirror that of their hosts – some Sphecodes whose hosts are active in spring emerge and mate the previous fall, so that only overwintered females are present during the host’s flight season (in other words, catching a Sphecodes in late summer or fall doesn’t necessarily mean that its host is active at that time)!

Genus-level identification of most Sphecodes is straightforward–a fairly wasp-like bee with a dark head and thorax, and an abdomen with at least some blood-red integument (although some species have all-black males that might be confused with some Lasioglossum). With a few exceptions, the vast majority of Sphecodes species are not currently known to be identifiable in the field (but knowledge of phenology and host associations can often help with making an educated guess).

Regional Species List: