The Bee Hunter’s Diaries. Chapter 2

Living in a Condo

Most people think bees live in hives with a queen, workers, and drones, but only a small percentage of all bee species live that way. Most bees are solitary. That means one “bee mom” does all the work of building the nest, collecting nectar and pollen, and laying and taking care of the eggs. Also, many types of bees nest on the ground. At this time of year, it is easy to see some of these solitary bees making their nests. They are associated with the first flowers to bloom and they are important for pollination. Among the more common bees that you can find in your backyard are miner bees (Andrenas), cellophane bees (Colletes), and sweat bees (Lasioglossum).

Nesting aggregation of the sweat bee Lasioglossum zephyrum at ECU campus. Female bee coming out of the nest.

Nesting aggregation of the sweat bee Lasioglossum zephyrum at ECU campus. Nest entry, the mini volcano shape is called the tumulus.

The chimney bee Ptilothrix bombiformis common between the summer month made their nest in the ground, close to water sources.

United But Not Mixed

Solitary does that mean these bees live alone. In most cases, the bee nests are close to each other, but the galleries are not interconnected. This is like living in a condo, where all the bees have their own apartment. If you are careful and look closely, you can find these bee aggregations in your own yard. Some native bees are found in aggregations of thousands of individuals.

General diagram of how the nest looks underground, by the entrance you can find this tumulus that is the dirt that the mom takes every day out of the galleries, at the end of every gallery you can find a cell with the resources pollen and nectar. On every cell, mom bee lays an individual egg.

The blue orchard mason bee.

One of the first bees emerging in the spring here at the OKC Zoo is the Blue mason bee Osmia lignaria. This bee is a bit smaller than the honey bee and is dark with some shiny blue metallic markings. Also, this bee has some long, white hair. The female collects and transports the pollen with a structure called a scopa that is located under her belly, like a kangaroo pouch.
The blue mason bee nests in stems, and gets the name of mason, because it uses mud to separate the nest cells from each other. They use pre-made galleries and they accept human-made refuges like the now popular bee hotels. This bee is easy to manage for this reason and is now used for crop pollination, like apple orchards.

Picture of the blue orchard mason bee Osmia lignaria female lateral view (Photo: Chelsey Ritner http://idtools.org)

Picture of the blue orchard mason bee Osmia lignaria male lateral view (Photo: Chelsey Ritner http://idtools.org)

Nesting site on an old log at the OKC Butterfly pollinator garden.

A simple diagram that shows how the nest of the blue mason bee looks inside the stem/gallery. Every cell division is made of mud.