#cellophane bee

[herpsandbirds]

Cellophane Bee (Colletes wilmattae), family Colletidae, Manitoba, Canada

"Species in the genus build cells in underground nests that are lined with a cellophane-like plastic secretion, a true polyester, also earning them the nickname polyester bees... " (Wikipedia)

photograph by Thilina Hettiarachchi

[solarflare-s]

peekaboo!

[drhoz]

#3421 - Hylaeus ruficeps ssp. kalamundae

A female, about to bubble nectar to reduce the water content.

A male, who had been investigating resin on Corymbia trunks, and small holes on a fallen log. He was probably doing the latter to find any females nesting in the holes, since these solitary bees nest in old beetle holes in wood, when they're not working hard at collecting nectar and pollen from Corymbia and other local eucalypts.

On the other hand, they've also been found mass nesting in polystrene insulation blocks. Kit Prendergast, expert on our local bees, found that the bees actually prefered the plastic to specially made wooden bee hotels.

The species is found from the Perth area south to Kojonup.

Lake Mealup, S. of Perth

[little-creature-of-the-day]

little creature of the day: Cellophane Bee

i love bugs

image source

[parasives]

Hundreds of bee nests. iNat says they're cellophane bees!

[onenicebugperday]

@abstracttheworld submitted: This is that ground bee I was talking about before! :D I live in virginia btw.

What a cute bee! I don’t remember the context or if you had a question so I will just say it’s a very adorable bee friend :)

And also if you had asked for an ID, it looks like a cellophane bee, proooobably Colletes inaequalis.

[celestialmacros]

Cellophane Bees  (Colletes inaequalis)

Southeastern Pennsylvania

April 3, 2019

Taking a chance on the ID.  At first I just thought that there were a lot of ant hills in the magnolia grove I was in, but then I saw low flying bees, and some of the ”ant hills” had little bee faces peeking out of them.  There were a lot of these nests, but each one only contains one bee.  (I’m glad no one is ever in this arboretum to see me lying on the ground stalking bees.)

[coolbugs]

Bug of the Day

Look at the fuzzy face on this little Unequal Cellophane Bee (Colletes inaequalis) I found at my porch light the other night. So sweet!

Thanks to John S. Ascher for the id.

Update: @inverte-brat asked about the origin of the name “unequal” cellophane bee. I did some googling and was not able to figure it out. I did find out that they are called cellophane bees because of a clear, plastic-like substance they produce that they use to coat the walls of their underground nests, in order to keep them dry.