#melittidae

[michaelnordeman]

Yellow loosestrife bee/Macropis europaea/lysingbi. Värmland, Sweden (15 July 2023).

[reanimateobjects]

[andrenaflavipes]

Obsessed with the way she scurries back in "there is work to be done here !" Pantaloon bees are the cutest things.

(Dasyopoda hirtipes, female imago)

16.vi.2020

[addicted2wasps]

I don't typically draw bees very often, as they are a bit more challenging, considering they can be quite hairy, although this one has always made a mark on me. Rediviva emdeorum is a bee in the Melittidae that is endemic to South Africa. They have ridiculously long forelegs in order to scoop the oil from the spurs of Diascia flowers. There are a lot of bizarre-o Hymenopterans out there and this bee is certainly a contender!

[outragedslime]

Happy and sleepy pantaloon bee in my moms garden!

[ifelten]

Pragtbuksebi (Dasypoda hirtipes)

Hunner (1-5) og hanner (6-7).

Pantaloon Bee aka Hairy-legged Mining Bee (Dasypoda hirtipes)

Females (1-5) and males (6-7).

[usgsbiml]

Looks just like a "bee" does it not?  

Not super sexy, pretty plain really.  

But so very interesting.  

This is Melitta melittoides.  

A very uncommon bee.  Uncommon because it only feeds its babies the pollen from Lyonia  (Fetterbush, Staggerbush if you will).  Lyonia is around, but it has the problem that it likes brushy, partially open areas away from agriculture and people and blooms pretty late in the season when the area is filled with heat, humidity, ticks and few buggologists looking for bees.  

It also looks a lot like more common bushes like blueberries and is often overlooked.  So, we very, very rarely see this species, but it may be more common than we think.  Or, maybe it is super rare.  Well what is true is that almost no one is looking.  

Collected in a USDA malaise trap in the bottomlands of Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge and photographed by Hannah Sutton.  

[reanimateobjects]