European Wool Carder Bee

Description:

I see these bees in my flower gardens every summer. Anthidium manicatum, common name European wool carder bee,[1] is a species of bee in the family Megachilidae, the leaf-cutter bees or mason bees.[2] They get the name 'carder' from their behaviour of scraping hair from leaves[3] such as lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina). They carry this hair bundled beneath their bodies to be used as a nest lining