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Bee ID help

17K views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  ElBee 
#1 ·
Can someone tell me what they think this species might be? I just noticed these in my garden for the first time today. They're a bit larger than a honeybee, but not as large as a typical bumble bee. Also, their flight is very similar to the orchid bee in that it tends to hover like a hummingbird and then dart away rapidly. I live in Dallas, Tx if that helps in narrowing down the species. Tried to upload the image directly, but it kept failing so here's a link to my imgur page: http://imgur.com/3zsZ3
 
#8 ·
Thanks mike the illinois site is very interesting,but beekgeek is in Texas do they have the same bees there and what kind of bee do you think is in beekgeeks photo,i still thank it is a carpenter bee but i owe rwuster an apology now i know all bumblebees don't have ylw on there abdomen.
 
#9 ·
RWuster

So, only the bumble bees have pollen baskets on their legs? I have a ton of Carpenter bees around my house (because they bore into the wood), but didn't think I had any bumble bees. But I do have some smaller bees that look almost identical that have pollen baskets. How do Carpenter bees carry pollen?

Thanks!
 
#11 · (Edited)
Yes I didn't mention that the bee in the pic had 'hair' on its abdomen also, that was the first thing that tipped me off along with the pollen baskets on its back legs. Carpenter bees carry their pollen on the underside of their bodies, and they can fly sideways or straight up or down as fast as they can fly forward (if you ever try to catch one lol). Anyway, if you get to see one you will see the yellow pollen on their underside or even covering their whole body which I think is pretty cool.

The carpenter bees around here carry pollen on their undersides anyway. Looks like other carpenters in other areas might have pollen baskets on their legs. Of course I can't find the link to the carpenter bees in my area. If I can get a good pic of one I'll post it.
 
#14 ·
I live in Fort Worth. I had a bumble moth in my garden not too long ago. big, but not a bee.
Type this in google, and you'll get a bunch of pics: bumblebee moth pictures
 
#15 ·
First of all, nice photo. It seems like a bumblebee, and B impatiens seems probable, although I do not know Texas bees - we don't have it in western WA, (our narrow little niche) but B impatiens is a common eastern bbee. As best as I can tell, only a few bees, all highly social, have corbicula (pollen baskets); of the corbicula bearing bees, only honey bees and bumblebees are North American.

As for i.d., here are two very good links.
Bugguide is strong on photos and has many helpful members. Here is their bumblebee link: http://bugguide.net/node/view/3077
DiscoverLife is oriented to using a checklist sort of key, including winnowing it down by location and by as many features as you can observe. However, they also have an excellent photo library. Check out this photo of B impatiens by Sherry Pollock: http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?...tiens,_Common_Eastern_Bumblebee,I_SOP2607.jpg.

By the way, while this pollen basket narrows down the i.d. on this bee to a female bumblebee, bees that lack a basket include male and parasitic bumblebees. (Male bees do not gather pollen except incidentally.)

Glen Buschmann
olypollinator@aol.com
Bees, Birds, and Butterflies
www.olypollinator.blogspot.com
 
#16 ·
Howdy Folks,

The bee in the image is a female Xylocopa, a carpenter bee.

2 obvious characters are the scopa - pollen carrying apparatus on the hind legs, and the mouth parts.

Bumblebees do have corbicula which are a wide concave structure on the tibia rimmed with bristles. Comparatively, a scopa is a mass of bristles which can occur on the hind legs or on other parts of the body, such as the abdomen in leafcutter bees.

Many native species of bees have a scopa on the hind legs.

Hope this was helpful,

Cheers
 
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