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Project Noah Nature School
Heriades sp
A small black bee with thin white stripes on the abdomen.
Spotted in backyard cleaning itself on a grape leaf.
Bees in the genus Heriades get their common name –Mason Bee– from their practice of walling off the cells of their nests with bits of mud, sand and other materials just like a human brick mason might do. Inside of each nest cell, the mother bee carefully constructs a ball of pollen and nectar upon which she will lay a single egg. Soon after being laid and sealed into its chamber, the egg will hatch and the larva will grow until the following spring before pupating and emerging as an adult Mason Bee. In some cases, individuals may stay in the cell longer, which is thought to be a strategy to insure that some individuals will always be around in case the previous season’s brood are unsuccessful.
Spotted on Jul 23, 2017
Submitted on Jul 25, 2017
1 Comment
This is either Halictidae or Andrenidae. Difficult to tell without a better view of the face, but I lean toward a halictid.