Bicoloured striped sweat bee: Agapostemon virescens

 

This morning I was walking around Munson Pond in Kelowna with my camera and long lens and came upon dandelion-like flowers that were being visited by small, metallic-green sweat bees.  I managed to get a few pretty good shots even though I cannot get very close to the subjects (minimum focus distance is about 10 feet).  Even so, the cropped images came out well.

The bicoloured striped sweat bee (Agapostemon virescens) is somewhat different in the way they build nests.  Unlike bees or wasps that form a colony, they are solitary bees but with a difference.  They are somewhat communal, having up to thirty females in an underground nest site, but each female lays her eggs and cares for her own young.  The nest site has a single entrance used by the group which makes guarding the vulnerable young easier.  

As other females go about the business of gathering pollen and nectar to feed their young, one or more bees remain behind to guard the nest from insects that would either parasitize the young or take its food.  This assures that they will likely make it to adulthood.  Adults have the ability to sting but are generally docile.

Thanks to Chloe M Markovits for her detailed post.  You can see her page here.

Thanks for reading.  

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com


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