IDENTIFICATION PAGE # 9

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ID requests for June 2020

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WILD BEES OF THE NATIONAL BUTTERFLY CENTER
Mission, Texas

Here is a bee you identified for us in 2018 as Triepeolus rufoclypeus.  Most of the Triepeolus bees we see in Hidalgo County  look like this one.

A female Triepeolus rufoclypeus

This looks like Triepeolus lunatus to me.     There were many of these feeding on Solidago last fall at the National Butterfly Center.   Notably, however, the usual host of T. lunatus -- Melissodes bimaculatus - does not seem to be endemic to the Lower Rio Grande Valley.  In the 2+ years we've been documenting bees there, we haven't seen a single one.  We saw many M. bimaculatus when we were in Austin (here in Florida, they are ubiquitous), so we've actively kept an eye out for them in Hidalgo County, without results.    Could Triepeolus lunatus have an alternative host?  The most common long-horned bees at the NBC in the fall are M. tepaneca and  Melissoptila otomita.

Male Colletes swenki?
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Family:  Colletidae

Size:  7-8 mm (male)

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Associated plant

Downy Ground Cherry

(Physalis pubescens)
Family:  Solanaceae

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When seen:

March 5,  2020

detailed photos of male bee

This is a small (7 mm) male Colletes bee found on Physalis.

Below is a  female Colletes swenki found  during April 2019, in the same area, on purple ground cherry (Quincula lobata).  The female was larger -- 11 mm.

Confirmed ID Requests

ID's have been confirmed for the species below

Perdita female and male
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Family:  Andrenidae

Size:  8 mm (female)

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Associated plant

Cowpen daisy

(Verbesina encelioides)
Family:  Asteraceae

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When seen:

February 2020

Detailed photos of female bee

This is  a fairly large female Perdita - around  8 mm.   There were dozens of these feeding on cowpen daisy.  The bands on the female bee's abdomen are broad, bright yellow and uninterrupted. Its thorax is metallic bronze with a yellow spot on each pronotal lobe and a narrowly interrupted stripe on the pronotal collar. The the top half of the face, above the antennae, is dark.  The clypeus is dark, with yellow markings.  The bees' jaws bend at sharp right angles; the jaws are mostly red, and black at the tips.  The wing veins are pale, including the stigma.  I was wondering if this might be Perdita (Cockerellia) verbesinae?
 

female bee

Perdita  (Cockerellia) male
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Family:  Andrenidae

Size:  8 mm (female)

(male is also 8 mm)

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Associated plant

Cowpen daisy

(Verbesina encelioides)
Family:  Asteraceae

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When seen:

February 2020

The 8 mm male bee shown here was found with the female shown above. The male bee lacks abdominal bands.  The apical rims of its terga are lined with sparse pale hairs.  The bee's thorax is metallic bronze with a  narrowly interrupted stripe on the pronotal collar. The the top half of the face, above the antennae, is dark.  The clypeus is dark, with yellow markings.  The bees' jaws are orange.  The wing veins are very pale, including the stigma.  Despite the lack of  yellow bands, I was wondering if this might be the same species as that above?  I read in Timberlake that  Perdita (Cockerellia) verbesinae sometimes appears without bands? Or are the jaws of the male bee too different from those of the above female for them to be the same species?

Is this a male  Osmia subfasciata?  We saw many female Osmia subfasciata in the same area in March and April last year.

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There are many male Osmia bees like the one below at the National Butterfly Center right now, feeding on vetch and Texas baby bonnet.