mold on back of bees?

[victor schrager]

Can anyone suggest what a mold-like patch on the back of the thorax, near the head, on quite a few bees in one hive, might be? The bees seem healthy otherwise.
Thanks.

[sqkcrk]

Are you sure it wasn't pollen? Or it could have been the cacoon from the cell that the bee just emerged from. I've seen that a few times. I'd have to see it to really have any idea.

[devdog108]

i know what your are talking about, i saw it on a brand new emerged bee....looked like mold, but everything else was ok....

[RayMarler]

brand new bees are white-ish and hairy, they look all matted down.
If it's a white or grey or silver stripe then it's from getting pollen from a blossom that the petals of the blossom snaps the back of the bee when they exit from gathering pollen from inside the bloom. I forget which plant it is that does that to the girls. I get it in the early spring here where I'm at, the girls come in with a racing stripe down their backs!

Hopefully this is what you are seeing.

[Michael Palmer]

If it's a white or grey or silver stripe then it's from getting pollen from a blossom that the petals of the blossom snaps the back of the bee when they exit from gathering pollen from inside the bloom. I forget which plant it is that does that to the girls.

That would be Jewelweed in the Northeast. Anthers hang down from the top of the flower, and "paint" a line across the bees' thorax.

[swamprat]

thanks MP I just seen some bees on my mentors hives with white patch on there back and was wondering what it was.