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These are some common solitary bees you might encounter in California!
General Appearance
Mason bees are 7-15mm long, and are usually metallic Blue, Black, or Green, with claw-like jaws.
Range
Worldwide, with 139 species in North America.
Behavior and Life Cycle
Mason bees spend most of their life in nesting chambers, developing into adults, and waiting for spring. When spring arrives, Mason bees emerge from their nests to mate, build other nests, and lay eggs. Simultaneously, they pollinate for about 4-6 weeks.
Nesting Habits
Mason bees build their nests in hollow stems or holes of plants. To protect their larvae, they use clay-rich mud to build a wall. Once they lay eggs and stuff the nest with food, they use more clay-rich mud to seal the other side of the hole, creating a little container to protect their eggs.
Preferred Flowers
These bees are generalists and will usually go to any flower.
Fun Facts
Mason Bees are some of the first bees to arrive in the spring, being able to tolerate colder temperatures than many other types of bees.
Beekeepers handle mason bees without protective suits: just like other solitary bees, mason bees very rarely sting, and their sting is not very painful, even compared to other solitary bees.
Leafcutter Bee (Megachile spp.)
Leafcutter Bee (Megachile spp.)
General Appearance
Leafcutter Bees have triangular shaped abdomens that end at a point, and a larger head to house muscles used to cut leaves. They are black and furry, and they carry pollen in hairs on the underside of their abdomen, giving the appearance of a yellow belly. They are about the size of a honeybee, around 7-18 mm long.
Range
Worldwide, with species native to California
Behavior and Life Cycle
Leafcutter bees emerge in the spring. Males die after mating, while females go on to collect pollen and build nests, after which they die as well, a few weeks after emergence. The eggs hatch as larvae, after which the larvae go through metamorphosis within the nest. Then, the adult bees stay hibernating in the nest until the next spring.
Nesting Habits
Female Leafcutter Bees make nests in preexisting tubular holes. The bee lines the walls of the cavity with circular portions of leaves that it cuts from other plants, and creates multiple brood cells by placing walls of leaves and resin between them. In each cell, she lays a single egg and provides a pollen loaf, which is pollen kneaded in nectar, as food. The end of the hole is capped off by a thicker wall of leaves and resin.
Preferred Flowers
Cosmos, Sunflowers, Mints, Phacelias
Fun Facts
Leafcutter bees can reach small flowers like those of mints that other pollinators can’t easily do.
Leafcutter bees are often used commercially to pollinate crops in the same way honeybees are!
The largest bees in the world are a species of Leafcutter bee in Indonesia, reaching a length of 1.5 inches.
Ultra Green Sweat Bee (Agapostemon Texanum)
Ultra Green Sweat Bee (Agapostemon Texanum)
General Appearance
Ultra Green Sweat Bees are around 9-11 mm long, and are colored metallic green. Males have black and yellow bands, while females are all one color. They transport pollen on their hind legs.
Range
Western North America.
Behavior and Life Cycle
Bees emerge in the spring and mate; the female then spends the rest of her life creating a nest in the ground, collecting pollen, and laying eggs, during the active season of April to November. The eggs grow into adult bees inside the nest, which hibernate till the next spring.
Nesting Habits
Ultra Green Sweat Bees make nests in the ground, on both horizontal surfaces and in vertical banks. These burrows can be 50-120 cm long, and have 5-20 cm side tunnels to store eggs. The female bee seals off the mouth of the burrow at night.
Preferred Flowers
These bees are generalists and will usually go to any flower.
Fun Facts
They are attracted to the salt in human sweat, and are known to land and consume it, giving them their name.
Valley Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa Varipuncta)
Valley Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa Varipuncta)
General Appearance
While the females are black with black eyes, the males are golden with green eyes. Females (left) are smooth, while the males (right) appear fuzzy. Adults are 1 inch in length.
Range
Southwestern US and northwestern Mexico; eastern pacific islands.
Behavior and Life Cycle
Valley carpenter bees mate in the spring; only the female creates a nest with cells for eggs, while the male defends it by divebombing intruders in order to scare them off. Young adult male and female bees will hibernate in these nests during the winter; most bees are reproductively inactive in the colder months.
Nesting Habits
Female bees burrow into wood in order to create tunnels for a nest; they prefer to nest in various trees over human structures. In these nests, the female will lay eggs, each wrapped in pollen and sealed with sawdust.
Preferred Flowers
These bees are generalists and will usually go to any flower.
Fun Facts
The largest bee found in California. This means they can collect more pollen than smaller bees!
Since these bees are so large, if they cannot reach the nectar, sometimes they “cheat” a flower by piercing the side of the flower to get nectar.
Male carpenter bees may get territorial and start divebombing you if you get close to their nest. Though they can be intimidating due to being big and loud, male bees lack stingers and thus pose no threat.
Long-Horned Bee (Melissodes spp.)
Long-Horned Bee (Melissodes spp.)
General Appearance
Long-Horned Bees have a thick layer of fur, and are typically 0.3-0.7 inches (7-18mm) long. Males (left) are distinguished by their namesake long antennae.
Range
North and Central America
Behavior and Life Cycle
Long-Horned Bees emerge from their nests in March. Males emerge first in order to scout out potential mates for when the females do. The females will then build their nests, and collect pollen for their young over the summer, creating a pollen loaf, a small ball of pollen and nectar, for them to live on through the fall and winter months. After this, the female will lay her eggs and then die.
Nesting Habits
Long-Horned Bees build branching burrows in the ground to lay eggs, lining their nests with a waxy substance.
Preferred Flowers
Asters
Sunflowers
Daisies
Fun Facts
Long-Horned bees are used in agricultural pollination for crops like squash, melons, and cotton.
Male Long-Horned bees will sleep curled up in flowers, often with several inhabiting the same one.
Some Long-Horned Bee Species, like the Melissodes Pallidisignatus, are parasitic; instead of building their own nests, they steal the nests of other solitary bees.
Mining Bees (Adrenidae spp.)
Mining Bees (Adrenidae spp.)
General Appearance
The bees’ length ranges from an inch long to smaller than 0.1 inches. Their upper fur is usually a combination of red and orange. The bees’ bodies are mostly furry and soft. They often have brown hair on thorax and abdomen.
Range
Worldwide, with species native to California
Behavior and Life Cycle
Mining Bees emerge in the early spring and mate, after which the females will build their nests and collect pollen for their young. In their nests, they lay their eggs on top of pollen loafs, balls of nectar and pollen that feed the young until the next spring. Adult bees are usually active for only a few weeks.
Nesting Habits
Mining Bees make burrows in well-draining soil, often preferring sand. They line these burrows with a shiny secretion, and lay their eggs with the pollen loafs inside. Their nests can be recognized by raised "chimney" or "volcano" structures on top of the entrances. Mining bees often build their nests in the same area year after year.
Preferred Flowers
Mining Bees are specialists, with different species collecting pollen and nectar from only a small set of flower species, often in the genuses Ceanothus and Phacelia.
Fun Facts
Mining Bees are often important in pollinating fruit trees.
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