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Posts Tagged: sunflower bees
Get Off My Turf!
Get off my turf! The native bees known as Melissodes, the longhorned bees, start stirring in the early morning. First, they settle on a leaf or flower to warm up their flight muscles. Once ready to fly, they don't let up until late...
A male Melissodes agilis pauses to sip nectar from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Get off my turf! A male Melissodes agilis bops another male of the species. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"I said get off my turf." The male Melissodes agilis trying to claim territorial rights.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
May the Buzz Be With You
Did you feel the buzz in 2015? The honey bees, bumble bees, sunflower bees, sweat bees...what a year it was! It's time to walk down memory lane--or stray from the garden path--and post a few bee images from 2015. It wasn't all flowers and sunshine....
A female ultra green sweat bee, Agapostemon texanus, nectaring on cosmos. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenski, foraging on a tower of jewels. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A honey bee, Apis mellifera, foraging on a Bacopa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two sunflower bees battle it out: a male Svastra (larger bee delivers quick kick to a smaller male Melissodes. The flower is a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A praying mantis eating a bee, predator vs. prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Freeloader flies, family Milichiidae, and probably genus Desmometopa, dining on a honey bee, a spider's prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Snuggle Bugs
Just call them "snuggle bugs." Or "snuggle bees." After spending the day chasing the girls and defending their patch of Mexican sunflowers or Tithonia, a cluster of Melissodes robustior males settled down for the night. Their bed...
Male sunflower bees, Melissodes robustior, as identified by Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, slumber away on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
You Can Take That to the Bank!
They're good bees. You can take that to the bank! The excitement began when Martin Guerena, an integrated pest management (IPM) specialist with the City of Davis, encountered a native bee nesting site Wednesday in front of the U.S. Bank, corner of 3rd...
Sunflower bees, Svastra obliqua expurgata, flying to a nesting area in downtown Davis, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A sunflower bee delivering pollen to its nest. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A pollen-packing sunflower bee making a deposit near a Davis bank. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lindsey Hack (left) and Allie Margulies of the Neal Williams lab, UC Davis, photographing the sunflower bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
People make deposits in this bank, but sunflower bees are making deposits near the bank (left, in the wood chip mulch, circled here by yellow caution tape). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Boys' Night Out--with a Girl!
Two species of male sunflower bees, Svastra obliqua and Melissodes agilis, spend the day on our Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia) chasing the girls and protecting their turf. Sometimes I wonder why they don't tire out sooner than they do. The Energizer...
A honey bee gathers nectar from a lavender blossom while her cousins, sunflower bees (Melisodes agilis), sleep. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
