Identifying types of bees.

Possible sweat bee photographed in my wildflower garden

Did you know that there are many different types and species of bees besides honey bees?  It turns out that there are over 20,000 species of bee worldwide and 3600 in North America (US and Canada).  This doesn't include wasps, sawflies, or other insects in the Hymenoptera.  Within the bee taxonomic category (Apidae), there are 7 main groupings.  These include the following:

  • Mining bees (Andrenidae) are somewhat wasp-like.
  • Plasterer bees and kin (Colletidae) have two-part tongues, mostly found in Australia.
  • Swift and comb-bearer bees (Stenotritidae) are found only in Australia.
  • Meltittid bees (Melittidae) are mostly found in Africa.
  • Sweat bees (Halictidae) are small and often colourful.
  • Apidae is the largest family and includes carpenter, bumble, honey, and cuckoo bees.  These are found worldwide.
  • Mason and Leaf cutter bees (Megachilidae) have a special structure called a scopa on their belly to carry pollen.  Also found worldwide.

For those of us here in North America that are less excited about taxonomy, it is easier to break down the bees into simpler groupings.  These include the following:

  • Honey, bumble, and carpenter bees have pollen baskets.
  • Leaf cutter and mason bees have a scopa on their ventral abdomen.
  • Sweat bees are small and often colourful.
  • Mining bees have a wasp-like appearance.
Defining each of these groups becomes more detailed than what I intend to write on at the moment.  I may deal with this on a future blog.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

For further reading, go to this website:

https://www.pollinator.org/pollinator.org/assets/generalFiles/BeginnerBeeFieldGuide_11March2022_LowRez.pdf




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