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Author Topic: What are these?? Small bees of some sort??  (Read 1224 times)

Offline van from Arkansas

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What are these?? Small bees of some sort??
« on: March 24, 2019, 04:09:05 pm »
Walking about my apiary I see these bees smaller than my honey bees hovering about 2 inches above the ground.  There are hundreds in a confined area of say 20 ft by 20 ft.

I noticed a ground mating and realized I stumbled on the equivalent to a drone congregation area for these critters.  I took pics of the mating hoping someone will know what these critters are.  Shaped like bees but smaller with striped abdomen just like honey bees.







The bees are centered and grounded, there 4 bees in each pic.  Any ideas??
Blessings
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I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.

Offline MikeyN.C.

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Re: What are these?? Small bees of some sort??
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2019, 04:19:57 pm »
Had some here last yr. couldn't get a pic , cause they were so fast. Only lasted for about 4-5 days and were gone. Don't know?
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Offline van from Arkansas

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Re: What are these?? Small bees of some sort??
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2019, 04:26:03 pm »


For some reason probably my fault, looks like the first three pics are the same, although I have 3 different pics, so I added another pic.  They are ground nesters having a hole about 3/8 inch.  All this, 100?s of critters, 5 feet from a honey bee hive.  My honey bees are not bothered by these critters.
Blessings
« Last Edit: March 24, 2019, 04:49:58 pm by van from Arkansas »
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I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.

Offline The15thMember

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Re: What are these?? Small bees of some sort??
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2019, 06:36:03 pm »
I?m not an expert by any means, but just based on their body shape and the fact that they are ground dwelling, I?d guess they are some kind of Andrena mining bee.  I?ll keep digging (haha, unintentional pun) and see if I can get any more specific than that.
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Offline The15thMember

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Re: What are these?? Small bees of some sort??
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2019, 06:42:06 pm »
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Offline van from Arkansas

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Re: What are these?? Small bees of some sort??
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2019, 06:59:47 pm »
Member, sure looks correct.  SPECIAL Thanks so much...  not sure how you found among 100?s of bees species.
Blessings
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I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.

Offline The15thMember

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Re: What are these?? Small bees of some sort??
« Reply #6 on: March 24, 2019, 07:59:06 pm »
No problem, Van. Research is my super power.  :cheesy:  Actually my method is nothing special.  First I google using laymen?s terms a description of the insect. So for this I tried ?ground bee with bald back?. That didn?t work out though, because the word ?bald? gave me hits for bald-faced hornets. Then I remembered that most mining bees are in the Andrena genus so I changed the search to ?Andrena with bald thorax? hoping to get more scientific hits. Then I just scrolled through google images until I found a bee that looked close. Then I click on that image and scrolled through similar images until I found a picture labeled with the bee species. Then I just backchecked the info with bugguide to make sure it was correct. I identify lots of animals and insects this way. It?s certainly not foolproof but it works most of the time.
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I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

Offline van from Arkansas

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Re: What are these?? Small bees of some sort??
« Reply #7 on: March 24, 2019, 11:02:51 pm »
Thank you for your time.  After all, time is precious and you gave me some of yours.
Blessings to you Member.
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I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: What are these?? Small bees of some sort??
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2019, 08:40:17 am »
How big are they?  They are obviously a ground dwelling solitary bee that are sharing that area.
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Offline van from Arkansas

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Re: What are these?? Small bees of some sort??
« Reply #9 on: March 25, 2019, 10:27:18 am »
The critter bee is about 2/3 the size of my honeybees.  Just a wee bit smaller is my best scientific description.  Haha
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I have been around bees a long time, since birth.  I am a hobbyist so my answers often reflect this fact.  I concentrate on genetics, raise my own queens by wet graft, nicot, with natural or II breeding.  I do not sell queens, I will give queens  for free but no shipping.
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