tags: leafcutter bee, Megachile wheeleri, Gaillardia pulchra, Image of the Day
Leafcutter Bee, Megachile wheeleri, pollinating Gaillardia pulchra, White Oak Bayou along E. T.C. Jester Blvd.
Contrast the leafcutter bee that visits the wild sunflowers. Native bees are specialists, while European honeybees will whore for any flower that offers a reward.
Image: Biosparite [larger]
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tags: mystery insects, bugs, Image of the Day
Leafcutter Bee on Helianthus annuus, White Oak Bayou along E. T.C. Jester Blvd., Houston.
The photographer writes: Here is a picture of what I believe is a leafcutter bee, and a hirsute one at that, gathering pollen on the flower of a wild sunflower.…
tags: native bee species, bees, Image of the Day
This little bee was working the Gaillardias along White Oak Bayou (Texas) around 6:30 p.m. Notice the bulging pollen sacs on its hind legs.
Image: Biosparite [larger]
tags: Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus, butterfly, Image of the Day
Female Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus.
This butterfly was ovipositing along White OakBayou, E. T.C. Jester Blvd., Houston, Texas.
Image: Biosparite [larger]
Hairstreaks are members of the family Lycaenidae. They are small- to…
tags: Bumblebees, Bombus species, Hymenoptera, insects, entomology, natural history
Common Eastern Bumblebee, Bombus impatiens.
This species is often relied upon to pollinate commercial food crops,
such as tomatoes, that are often grown in agricultural greenhouses.
Image: Wikipedia [larger view…
Its a little hard to say what your bee is, but it certainly is not Megachile wheeleri, or any other megachilid. The presence of a pygidial plate and a scopa on the hind legs are disqualifiers for Megachile. An aside: many native bees are generalists. None as hyper-polylectic as honey bees but many certainly with broad diets.