Solitary Pollinators

To wrap up my posts on bees, this week I wanted to highlight some solitary bee pollinators.

Most bees are in fact solitary, and in one study of urban gardens in New York City they comprised 50% of the individuals sampled. The two most common families found were Colletidae and Halictidae. The latter are commonly known as sweat bees, and the genus Agapostemon is by far my favorite. How cool is a green bee?

Go here for some more awesome photos by Cyrus Khamak. Actually, I suggest just browsing through Flickr's photostream of insect macro (or search for jumping spiders).

Because many solitary bees nest in cavities, urban areas can provide a lot of suitable habitat with artificial structures. However, soil nesting bees are most abundant in forests, but the ground compaction by gardening and lawn care reduce the amount of suitable habitat in cities. I think this is a really interesting example of how community dynamics can change in urban ecosystems.

This leaf cutter bee (family Megachilidae) is using a brick wall as a nesting site:

Bees in the Megachilidae family are often used commercially for fruiting trees. They can be attracted with wood bored with holes.

Solitary bees are not known for their sting, though the females will do so if squashed or grabbed.