#hoplitis

[bowelflies]

Hoplitis papaveris (Megachilidae) is a leafcutting bee that lines its nest with poppy petals

photos source

[cnestus]

something i don't think i've ever seen before. this Hoplitis leafcutter bee has a big ol bump under it's abdomen!

[usgsbiml]

Bling!!!!!!

Hoplitis fulgida, a female from Grand Tetons National Park, collected as part of a study of climate change.  Most species in this genus are the normal black colored bee things, but a few, like this one are, as the Latin in name implies, glittering jewels.  Sierra Williams took this stacked shot.  Elizabeth Garcia Shopped it.

[bee-safari-blog]

Hoplitis mason bee - taking a chunk of leafy goodness off a Henderson’s checkermallow. Although it looks like she’s enjoying a fine salad, this green glob isn’t destined for the gullet. Instead she’ll mix it with some very, very small rocks to make the walls of her nest. ~~~~~~~~~~~#masonbee #hoplitis #pollinatorgarden https://www.instagram.com/p/BnXwTcMnViO/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1l91jhvh8wdq4

[dendroica]

Hoplitis albifrons, f, right, Mariposa CA, 2017-07-13-15.55 (via USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab)

Dark Bee. Some bees are all black, black hairs, black integument (skin), little reflection. This makes for somewhat eerie photography, a gothic presentation of a species that does not care what we think. Northern and mountain in distribution across both sides of the continent. This one from way up in Yosemite National Park in California. Collected by Claire Kremen's bee team and photographed by Anders Croft.

[bee-safari-blog]

Hoplitis mason bee capping off her nest hole in a set of bee boards. These rather large mason bees have been a bit of a project of mine for the past three years. In the first year I collected one nest which grew into five last season. This year they are quite common and it looks like I’ll fill upwards of thirty nest tubes. A well managed bee hotel can increase populations considerably.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#hoplitis #masonbee #bees #bugs #insects #macro #canonmacro #insects_of_our_world #mat_macro #kings_insects #found_on_flowers #macro_freaks #top_macro #macroclique #tgif_insects #macro_kings #photooftheday #beesofinstagram #pocket_insects #macro_brilliance #macro_perfection #top_macro #macro_highlight #macro_spotlight #electric_macro #igmw_macro #mat_macro_bees #onceupon_a_macro

[bee-safari-blog]

Hoplitis mason bee nest cell. Species unknown, a rather large black bee that frequents the garden in July. One can see the lengths these bees will go to protect the next generation. Multiple layers of chewed leaves represent the outer and innermost walls with tiny rocks filling the space between-the stone masonry that gives these bees their name. The cocoon rests securely in the middle. Of course the mother bee has to collect these materials and the effort must be nothing short of laborious, especially lofting those rocks in the air. Honey bees are given a lot of credit for their architectural skills however the knack for building is present throughout the expanse of bee diversity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#beenest #cocoon #hoplitis #masonbee #bees #bugs #insects #macro #canonmacro #insects_of_our_world #mat_macro #kings_insects #found_on_flowers #macro_freaks #top_macro #macroclique #tgif_insects #macro_kings #photooftheday #beesofinstagram #pocket_insects #macro_brilliance #macro_perfection #top_macro #macro_highlight #macro_spotlight #electric_macro #igmw_macro

[dendroica]

New bee arrives for first time in the UK | The Guardian

The bee is common in the UK’s European neighbours but has been discovered for the first time in this country, in a small park in Greenwich, London.

“I always have half an eye open, but I certainly didn’t expect that,” said David Notton, an insect expert at the Natural History Museum, who made the discovery in June. “It’s quite a big bee, so, if it was new, I thought someone else would have already spotted it.”

DNA tests confirmed the identity of the bee - Hoplitis adunca - and Notton gave it a common name based on the plant it exclusively feeds on, a blue-flowering plant in the borage family called viper’s bugloss.

Mason bees are solitary insects which nest in hollows in wood or plant stems and use mud to make walled compartments for their eggs. About 50 viper’s bugloss mason bees are now in Greenwich, making use of nesting boxes in the park provided by the Land Trust.

The viper’s bugloss mason bee is an expert traveller, because it can nest in holes in vehicles and freight, and Notton said that was a likely way it had arrived in London.

But he does not expect it to become widespread in the UK: “It needs a hot microclimate and it is at the edge of its [temperature] range” in southern England. However, he said places such as Dungeness, Rye and Salisbury Plain, where viper’s bugloss is common, could be settled by the bee in future.

Notton has also recently discovered a new-to-the-UK digger wasp and spider wasp, with the academic papers confirming the finds due soon. “It’s been a very good year,” he said.