- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's nicknamed "the sunflower bee" for good reason.
It forages on sunflowers.
We recently spotted a longhorned bee, Svastra obliqua, also called "the sunflower bee," on Gaillardia, aka blanket flower, a member of the sunflower family, Asteracease.
Asteraceae is comprised of more than 32,000 known species of flowering plants. And Svastra? Fourteen different species occur in North America and seven in California, according to the UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab, which provides this description:
"Overall they are medium to large, with stout bodies, gray hair on their thorax, and irregular striping on their abdomen. Females can be distinguished by their scopae, which are located on their hind legs. They additionally are larger compared to males and have dark faces. Males have yellow markings on the bottom section of their faces and are typically more elongate in body size. Both male and female bees have long antennae. Svastra sp. look very similar to Melissodes without using a microscope. However, Svastra sp. will have longer antennae than both Anthophora and Diadasia so the difference is more noticeable."
Those long antennae...those eyes...those mesmerizing eyes...
You can read more about California's native bees in California Bees and Blooms: a Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists, a book authored by the University of California team of Gordon Frankie, Robbin Thorp, Rollin Coville and Barbara Ertter. All are affiliated with UC Berkeley. Thorp, who received his doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley, was a member of the UC Davis entomology faculty for 30 years, from 1964-1994. He achieved emeritus status in 1994 but continued his research, teaching and public service until a few weeks before his death on June 7, 2019.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Just a day in the life of a native bee on a native flower in native California.
Svastra obliqua expurgata, also called "the sunflower bee," absolutely loves Coreoposis californica, sometimes called tickseed.
If you were a plant, would you want to be called "tickseed?"
Probably not. But the name, "tickseed," is apparently derived from the Greek "koris," meaning bed bug, and "opsis," referring to a seed, or resemblance to a seed.
We prefer to call it "Coreopsis."
If you grow Coreopsis, forget about ticks and seeds and think about the bees.
Here's a female foraging on what looks like a pot of gold to us...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Life is not always sunny for the sunflower bee, Svastra obliqua, a native longhorned bee.
The gals have trouble foraging when a male longhorned bee, Melissodes agilis, targets them.
The male M. agilis are very territorial--and their kamikaze-like maneuvers are spectacular.
The gal Svastras try to ignore them until the dive-bombing results in direct hits.
We saw this female foraging this week on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. We also saw her bolt after the male M. agilis hit his mark. Gotcha!
Score:
Male Melissodes agilis: 1
Female Svastra obliqua expurgata: 0.
(For more information on these two species and other bee species in California, see the Heyday publication, California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists, the work of UC-affiliated scientists , , It's available on the UC ANR website and on other sites. Also access the YouTube video on Svastras by The Bees in Your Backyard.)
/span>- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"Summertime, and the livin' is easy," belted out Ella Fitzgerald.
She wasn't singing about bees, but she could have been.
Summertime, and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high
Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good-lookin'
So hush little baby, Don't you cry.--George Gershwin.
Not always so easy if you're a sunflower bee (Melissodes agilis) foraging on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia).
Here you are, nearly tangled in a thicket of yellow pollen. You're absorbed. Totally. In fact, you're absolutely oblivious to your surroundings.
Suddenly, you feel as if you're being watched. Watched. Targeted. Bombarded.
Fact is, you are.
Off in the distance, another male bee is speeding straight toward you in the proverbial beeline maneuver in a territorial war.
Pull up! Pull up! Ground proximity warning system.
Whew! That was a close one.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
As we near the end of celebrating National Pollinator Week, June 16-22, look around and see all the insects foraging on reddish-orange flowers. And occasionally, you might see a reddish-orange insect like the showy Gulf Fritillary butterfly.
Orange, a color commonly associated with autumn, Halloween and Thanksgiving, is also a color that brightens many of our seasons and draws attention to special occasions, including Pollinator Week.
The reddish-orange Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) spreads its wings on a purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). A honey bee (Apis mellifera) and a sunflower bee (Melissodes agilis) forage on a blanket flower (Gallardia). Another bee, the leafcutting bee, Megachile fidelis, and a green bottle fly take a liking to a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia).
Pollinators come in all sizes, shapes, colors and species, from bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles, to flies.
Many folks throughout the country observe National Pollinator Week once a year, but some organizations, such as the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, protect our pollinators and promote pollinator conservation every day.
On their website:
"Pollinators are essential to our environment. The ecological service they provide is necessary for the reproduction of over 85 percent of the world's flowering plants, including more than two-thirds of the world's crop species. The United States alone grows more than one hundred crops that either need or benefit from pollinators, and the economic value of these native pollinators is estimated at $3 billion per year in the U.S. Beyond agriculture, pollinators are keystone species in most terrestrial ecosystems. Fruits and seeds derived from insect pollination are a major part of the diet of approximately 25 percent of all birds, and of mammals ranging from red-backed voles to grizzly bears. In many places, the essential service of pollination is at risk from habitat loss, pesticide use, and introduced disease."
Indeed, pollinators pack a punch.