IDENTIFICATION PAGE # 9

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.

A female Swenk's cellophane bee gathering pollen from purple ground cherry

The bee's hind basitarsis is medium-narrow.

Face of the female bee

The bee has a somewhat protuberant clypeus.

There are dense white hair bands under the bee's abdomen.

The first segment of the bee's abdomen (T1) is shiny,like patent leather, and sparsely pitted.

The second segment of the abdomen (T2) is less shiny, and somewhat more densely pitted (but not finely pitted). This minute trait helps differentiate this species from similar Colletes species.

Forewing of the bee

Male Osmia subfasciata

Family: Andrenidae

Size: 8 mm (female)

Associated plant

Cowpen daisy

(Verbesina encelioides)
Family: Fabacea

When seen:

February 2020

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

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

Perdita female and male

Family: Andrenidae

Size: 8 mm (female)

Associated plant

Cowpen daisy

(Verbesina encelioides)
Family: Asteraceae

When seen:

February 2020

Detailed photos of female bee

Female bee on cowpen daisy

Close-up of face

View of antennae and pronotal collar

Profile view

The bee's wing veins are very pale and difficult to see, so I set them against a =black background here. Even the stigma is pale. There are two submarginal cells and the first transcubital vein is simple & unbranched.

This is a second bee, found together with the first one on the same flower.

Dorsal view of female bee's abdomen

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

Family: Andrenidae

Size: 8 mm (female)

(male is also 8 mm)

Associated plant

Cowpen daisy

(Verbesina encelioides)
Family: Asteraceae

When seen:

February 2020

Male perdita found together with female

Face of male bee

Close-up dorsal view of head and thorax

Profile view of male bee

The bee's forewing has very pale veins, including the stigma; two submarginal cells; (and a simple lst transcubital vein.

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?

WJPEG-Perdita-male-dorsal-second-NBC-#33

Ceratina texana

Family: Apidae

Size: 6 mm (female)

Food plants at NBC:

Golden prickly poppy

(Argemone aenae texana)
Family: Asteraceae

When seen:

November 2018

WJPEG-Ceratina-Zadontomerus-NBC-#125-gol

Female bee

This is a female carpenter bee of the subgenus Zandotomerus, possibly a Ceratina texana. Bees of this subgenus are weakly metallic. Pale markings on them are confined to the face, legs and pronotum (the node under the wing, where the ivory spot occurs on the bee shown here.

The bee has a bell-shaped ivory mark on its clypeus, and its face is heavily pitted. Its lower legs are reddish. All of these are traits of the female Ceratina texana.

Dorsal view of bee

Abdomen of female bee

Tip of female bee's abdomen

The bee has an ivory stripe on its front femur.

This is the male bee you identified for us last year as Ceratina texana.

Female Ceratina on Palafoxia

The female bee has distinctive markings on its clypeus and labrum. Its face is heavily pitted.

An ivory stripe runs down the entire tibia; there is also a small yellow spot above the joint on the adjacent leg segment.

This is one of the female Colletes bees we found feeding on t he same seaside goldenrod plants as the male bee you identified as Colletes birkmanni. All of the female Colletes bees we're seeing on the goldenrod have the same rust-colored thorax hairs. (The female Colletes birkmanni identified last year also had this trait.) The females lack the specialized sternum hairs found on the male bee. (Photos of last year's female and of this year's male are shown below the latest photos of this new female.)

Colletes birkmanni?

Family: Colletidae

Size: 12 mm (female)

8-10 mm (male)

Associated plants at NBC:

Seaside goldenrod

(Solidago sempervirens)
Plant Family: Asteraceae

When Seen:

November 2019