Tag: sunflowers

• 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…

  Bee Watching

  January 13, 2023

  Backyard Bees, Melissodes, Species Page, Summer Bees

  backyard bee, chap-legged bee, longhorn bee, Melissodes, Melissodes agilis, Melissodes trinodis, summer, sunflowers

• 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…

  Bee Watching

  January 12, 2023

  Megachile, Specialists, Species Page, Summer Bees

  asters, backyard bee, cosmos, garden, Megachile, Megachile pugnata, summer, sunflowers

• Ligated/Poey’s furrow bee (Halictus ligatus/poeyi)

  Halictidae > Halictus > Halictus ligatus / Halictus poeyi Ligated furrow bee (Halictus ligatus) and Poey’s furrow bee (Halictus poeyi) are among the most abundant backyard bees in the Western Hemisphere. If you’re near flowering plants—particularly Asteraceae—in North America any time between late spring and early fall, this species pair (which is currently not separable…

  Bee Watching

  March 13, 2022

  Backyard Bees, Halictus, Species Page, Summer Bees

  asters, eusocial, furrow bee, Halictus ligatus, Halictus poeyi, sunflowers, sweat bee