Tag: backyard bee
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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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Carpenter-mimic leafcutter bee (Megachile xylocopoides)
Megachilidae > Megachile > Megachile xylocopoides Carpenter-mimic leafcutter bee (Megachile xylocopoides) is a large, glossy black megachilid. It can be found throughout the summer on asters like coreopsis, sunflowers, and goldenrods in gardens and backyards. M. xylocopoides is a straightforward field identification: it hardly resembles another megachilid in the northeast. Rather, its model is the…
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Sculptured resin bee (Megachile sculpturalis)
Megachilidae > Megachile > Megachile sculpturalis Even to the novice observer, sculptured resin bee (Megachile sculpturalis) is hard to miss. These large, loud, exotic megachilids hardly are closer in size to a small dragonfly than to most other bees in the region. It has been highly successful in human-disturbed landscapes, where it’s drawn to numerous…
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Pugnacious leafcutter bee (Megachile pugnata)
Megachilidae > Megachile > Megachile pugnata Pugnacious leafcutter bee (Megachile pugnata) is a sunflower bee through and through. This distinctive, large megachilid is common in summer on composite asters in gardens, backyards, and agricultural fields. The female has a particularly large head with a spikey genal tooth on the cheek (like Halictus ligatus/poeyi), which sets…
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European woolcarder bee (Anthidium manicatum)
Megachilidae > Anthidium > Anthidium manicatum European wool-carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) is a highly conspicuous bee of gardens and disturbed habitats. A. manicatum is stocky, with bold black-and-yellow patterning along the abdomen and yellow legs. Large males defend territories by patrolling patches of flowers and using abdominal spines to assault intruders of similar size like…
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Bufflehead mason bee (Osmia bucephala)
Megachilidae > Osmia > Osmia bucephala Bufflehead mason bee (Osmia bucephala) is a hefty backyard Osmia of late spring. It is one of the largest Osmia in the region, often mistaken for a bumble bee worker. This distinctive box-headed black-and-white mason bee is a frequent resident of suburban yards and gardens, where beard-tongue (Penstemon) flowers…
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Horn-faced/Taurus mason bee (Osmia cornifrons/taurus)
Megachilidae > Osmia > Osmia cornifrons / Osmia taurus Horn-faced mason bee (Osmia cornifrons) and Taurus mason bee (Osmia taurus) are two similar nonnative Osmia. Both have spread rapidly throughout eastern North America in recent decades since their introduction as potential fruit tree pollinators in the 1980s. These species have proliferated in human-altered habitats, raising…
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Half-black/Sanderson’s bumble bee (Bombus vagans/sandersoni)
Apidae > Bombus > Bombus vagans / Bombus sandersoni Half-black bumble bee (Bombus vagans) and Sanderson’s bumble bee (Bombus sandersoni) are two forest-associated bumble bees with similar patterning. Both species have long, messy light-yellow hairs on the top half of the abdomen, though some individuals of B. sandersoni deviate considerably from this standard color pattern.…
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Tricolored bumble bee (Bombus ternarius)
Apidae > Bombus > Bombus ternarius Tricolored bumble bee (Bombus ternarius) is hard to miss. Its striking black, yellow, and orange patterning separates are more reminiscent of bumble bees of the western United States than most of our eastern fauna. B. ternarius is widespread, common, and particularly adaptable in suburban and urban areas, though it…
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Confusing bumble bee (Bombus perplexus)
Apidae > Bombus > Bombus perplexus Despite its name, perplexing bumble bee (Bombus perplexus) doesn’t have to be an identification quagmire. In particular, the distinctive dark-gold color of most individuals and black underwings sets them apart from the superficially similar species pair B. vagans/sandersoni. While B. perplexus does turn up in urban areas, you’re probably…