Posts Tagged: digger bees
Those Bumble Bee Mimics at Bodega Head
If you've ever been to Bodega Head in Sonoma County, you may have marveled at the waves...
A digger bee, bumble bee mimic Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, warming its flight muscles on Bodega Head on May 9, 2022. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Two insects on one wildradish blossom: a fly and a digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, at Bodega Head on May 9, 2022. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, in flight at Bodega Head on May 9, 2022. The flower is a wild radish, Raphanus raphanistrum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A bumble bee mimic, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, sipping nectar from a wild radish, Raphanus raphanistrum, on May 9, 2022 on Bodega Head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Archived photo of nests of Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana on the sandstone cliffs, Bodega Head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Beckoning Bees at Bodega Bay
Head to the Bodega Bay in Sonoma County and you'll see little kids building sandcastles on the...
Digger bees, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, building their nests in the sand cliffs off Bodega Head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
These are the turrets, aka "sandcastles," that digger bees build in the sand cliffs off Bodega Head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, heading toward her nest at Bodega Head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Three UC Davis Entomology Faculty Achieve Promotions
Two UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty members are now full professors, and a...
One of the species that Professor Joanna Chiu studies is the spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzuki, shown here on a raspberry. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
One of the species that Professor Louie Yang studies is the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus. This one is a male on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
One of the species that Associate Professor Rachel Vannette studies is the digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana. Image from Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Associate Professor Rachel Vannette is studying the digger bees, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, of Bodega Bay. (Photo by fellow researcher Steve Buchmann)
Professor Louie Yang in his research lab. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Professor Joanna Chiu in her research lab. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Bees of Bodega Head
There's more to Sonoma County's Bodega Head than the stunning views, crashing waves,...
A digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, returning to her nest on the sand cliffs of Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, edges closer to her nest on the sand cliffs of Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A bee-ant encounter: The digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, encounters an ant, Formica transmontanis, as identified by ant specialists Phil Ward and Brendon Boudinot of UC Davis. Both species nest on the sand cliffs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, excavating a nest on the sand cliffs of Bodega Head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Four digger bees, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, appear in this image at Bodega Head. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A view from Bodega Head. Most tourists are unaware of the digger bees that inhabit the sand cliffs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tis the Miner Bee Season
What a lot of bees. These are Miner or Chimney bee nests. Another type of Digger bee, these nests are from Santa Paula Canyon thanks to Nathan Lurie
The hills are alive with the sound of BEE-EEZZE. And often they are found crawling on the ground, as is the case of Digger Bees. At this time of year, they might be seen along the margins of avocado orchards, near hiking trails or in undisturbed areas of citrus orchards. They are called Digger Bees commonly, but this is just a generic name for a large group of bees that nest in the ground. There are many genera and species and because of the general lack of study of these bees they are lumped under the name Digger for lack of any greater knowledge and naming of them.
There are several kinds of small hairy or metallic bees that dig into the soil to nest, hence the common name, digger bees. They are a diverse group that comes from different families and the term digger bee can include the andrenid bees, halictid bees, and colletid bees such as the plasterer and yellow-faced bees. These are solitary bees and native pollinators that are active early in the season. Each female digs a cylindrical underground tunnel as a nest where she reproduces (as opposed to social bees such as honey bees where only the queen reproduces and maintains a colony with the help of sterile workers). Although solitary, they form colonies that may have several hundred nests in one spot, but all nests are independently owned.
The subterranean nest is provisioned with a mixture of nectar and pollen collected from nearby flowering plants. This "bee-bread" is food for the bee's offspring (larvae) that develop in the underground chamber and emerge as adults the following year.
Digger bees are 1/4 to 1/2-inch-long and variable in color (mostly shiny metallic or dark, but some with markings of white, yellow or reddish brown). There is one generation of digger bees per summer and once the adults finish perpetuating the species by laying eggs of the next generation there will be no activity till the following spring.
Digger bee nests are commonly located in areas where grass and mulch are scarse, either from too much shade, previous drought conditions or other stress. Most of them like to fly around their airspace at different times of the day, something to do with mating, air temperature or staking territory. They often travel great distances to forage.
The threat of being stung by digger bees is unlikely. The bees are docile and not likely to sting unless handled or threatened. There is no nest guarding behavior or attack behavior like there is with social insects such as honey bees and yellowjacket wasps.
Another recent colony find was comprised of another digger bee.
In the case of this bee find, they are possibly Diadasia bituberculata – as suggested by Robin Thorpe, UCD entomologist. They are uncommon in the rest of the world, but found here in California and the western US. There are over 1,000 digger bee species.
Diadasia Digger Bee "Colony", Thanks to Pest Control Adviser Jane Delahoyde's friend.