SHARP-EATMAN
NATURE
PHOTOGRAPHY
FLORIDA BEES
IDENTIFICATION PAGE # F2
June 2023
Colletes from Archbold Biological Station of Venus Florida,
and from Lake Placid Florida
Food plants:
Sideroxylon reclinatum (Venus FL)
Plant Family: Sapotaceae
When and where seen:
June 2, 3, 4, 2023 (Archbold RS, Venus FL)
Colletes francesae (male)
Family: Colletidae
Size: 10-11 mm (females)
8-9.5 mm (males)
Male bee
detailed images
A male Colletes francesae
Alternate view of bee
Alternate view of bee
Face of bee
Male bee #1
Male bee #1
Photographs of SIderoxylon reclinatum subs. reclinatum: The bees on this page were found on four shrubs of this Sideroxylon species near the parking lot of the Archbold Research Station of Venus, Fla. Each shrub is thickly-covered with leaves and thousands of small white flowers. Shrubs are approximately 3.5 meters hide and 4 meters high. The flowers grow directly from the branch, in clusters. The blossoms are very small -- about 3-4 mm wide and 5 mm long. The branches are spineless (unlike the spiny Sideroxylon tenax).
A Sideroxylon reclinatum subs. reclinatum shrub.
Flowers grow in clusters connected directly to the branch.
The buds are brown and woody-looking. The flowers are white and resemble the flowers of S. tenax.
Leaves are bright green and shiny on the upper surface.
They are a slightly-reddish gold underneath -- not as red as SIderoxylon tenax. The undersides of the leaves have a matte/semi-velvety surface formed by small hairs.
The typical blossom is 3-4 mm wide when open, and about 5 mm long
Sideroxylon reclinatum blossoms on a dime, for scale
A typical full-sized leaf is 60-75 mm long.
The two bees shown here are females found on June 2, 2023, on five Sideroxylon reclinatum subs. reclinatum shrubs growing around the the Archbold Biological Station. 9 females and 15 males were collected from the same bushes from June 2-June 4.
On Jun 3, 2023, I also collected an identical female Colletes francesae from a SIderoxylon tenax shrub located a few miles away in Lake Placid, in one of the sites mentioned in the 2011 Deyrup article describing the species. There were far fewer Colletes on this bush than on the S. reclinatum. (The S. reclinatum were larger, with far more blossoms, and in sunnier locations.)
Some of the notable characteristics of the female bees shown here are: (1) their foretarsi are covered with hooked hairs, and the forelegs' lower tarsomeres are red and expanded; (2) the scutum, scutellum, face and scapes are coarsely pitted; (2) F1 and F2 are darker than the rest of the flagellum on females; on males, F1 is darker. The clearest images of the hooked hairs are in the second photo strip below.
Food plants:
Sideroxylon reclinatum (Venus FL)
Sideroxylon tenax (Lake Placid FL)
Plant Family: Sapotaceae
When and where seen:
June 2, 3, 2023 (Archbold RS, Venus FL)
June 2, 2023 (Lake Placid FL)
Colletes francesae (female)
Family: Colletidae
Size: 10-11 mm (females)
8-9.5 mm (males)
Female bee #1
detailed images
A female Colletes francesae
Close-up of of foreleg
Female bee #2
detailed images
This is a second female specimen. The bee has a very long abdomen.
There are hooked hairs on the bee's forelegs, and the lower tarsomeres are reddish and expanded.
Female bee #1
Female bee #2