Anthidium

Genus Anthidium

Wool-carder bees have distinctive white or yellow markings on their broad, black, and stout abdomens. In gardens, you are most likely to see Anthidium manicatum, a recently introduced European species that that may interfere with native bees. This stubby, aggressive bee is especially fond of the Mint family (Lamiaceae) and unlike most native Salish Sea bees, it is fiercely territorial. It positions itself in a patch of flowers, and attacks other bees as they approach, grasping them from above like a predatory wasp, or following them into flowers.

The San Juan islands’ native wool-carder bee, A. tenuiflorae, is small and relatively gentle, although it is gregarious, and can be found from year to year dominating the same patches of (mainly) composite flowers such as Pacific Gumweed.