Best Bee

Bombus insularis is a North American cuckoo bumblebee, a social parasite in the genus Bombus and the group historically treated as the subgenus Psithyrus. A female enters a colony founded by another bumblebee species and uses the host workers and stored resources to rear her own offspring rather tha...

Panurgus dentipes is a species of solitary mining bee in the family Andrenidae. It excavates nests in soil, and like other Panurgus bees it is associated with yellow-flowered members of the daisy family, Asteraceae, as a pollen source; ecological studies classify it as oligolectic, meaning its polle...

Hylaeus hyalinatus is a small solitary bee in the family Colletidae, commonly known as the hairy yellow-face bee. It is widely distributed across Europe and has also been recorded in western Asia and North Africa. Hylaeus females transport pollen internally in a specialized crop rather than on exter...

First described by Hans Strøm in 1768, Andrena fulvata is a solitary mining bee species widely distributed across northern Europe.

Friesella schrottkyi is a very small stingless bee in the tribe Meliponini and the family Apidae. It inhabits a limited area of the fragmented Atlantic Forest and adjacent regions of southeastern Brazil, where workers live in eusocial colonies rather than as solitary females. At roughly three millim...

The Indiscriminate Cuckoo Bumblebee, Bombus insularis, is a social-parasitic bumblebee native to northern and montane parts of North America. A female does not establish a normal worker-producing colony; instead, she enters a nest of another Bombus species and uses the host workers to rear her offsp...

The Arctic Cuckoo Bumblebee, Bombus hyperboreus, is a social-parasitic bumblebee with a circumpolar Arctic distribution. Its queen invades an established nest of another Arctic or alpine bumblebee, commonly Bombus polaris, and relies on the host workers to raise her reproductive offspring. Unlike mo...

Megachile montivaga is a North American leafcutter bee described by Cresson in 1878. Like other leafcutter bees, it is a solitary bee that uses cut pieces of leaves in the construction or lining of nests, often taking advantage of pre-existing cavities rather than forming a large communal hive. The...

Dufourea halictula is a solitary mining bee in the sweat-bee family Halictidae. It has a patchy distribution across continental Europe, where it is associated with sandy heath and other open, sandy habitats, and it has also been recorded in Britain. Its pollen foraging is specialized around plants s...

Andrena wilkella is a species of mining bee in the genus Andrena. Native to Europe, it was introduced to North America during the twentieth century and established populations there. The bee is associated with flowering plants in the legume family, including clovers, and contributes to their pollina...

Megachile latimanus, commonly called the broad-handed leafcutter bee, is a species in the family Megachilidae. Thomas Say described it in 1823, and taxonomic databases place it in the large leafcutter-bee genus Megachile. Like other members of that genus, it is a solitary bee rather than a social ho...

Colletes validus, commonly called the blueberry cellophane bee, is a solitary ground-nesting bee in the family Colletidae. The species occurs in eastern North America and is active in early spring, when it forages especially on lowbush and highbush blueberries. Its long, triangular face helps it rea...

Hylaeus mesillae is a species of masked bee in the genus Hylaeus and the family Colletidae. It was described by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell in 1896 and is recorded from North America. Like other Hylaeus bees, it is a solitary bee rather than a colony-forming honey bee, and it uses existing narrow...

Megachile parallela is a North American leafcutter bee originally described by Smith in 1853. Its name is associated with the parallel-sided form of its body, while its classification places it among solitary bees of the genus Megachile. The species is relevant to entomological and pollinator refere...

Anthidium oblongatum, commonly called the oblong woolcarder bee, is a solitary bee in the family Megachilidae. It is native to Europe and parts of Asia and was recorded as introduced to the eastern United States in 1995, with later records across several regions of North America. The species favors...

Osmia chalybea is a solitary mason bee species found in North America. It is distinguished by a dark metallic blue body and belongs to Osmia, a genus whose females generally use cavities or other small spaces for nesting and provision their offspring with collected pollen. The species is relevant to...

Andrena synadelpha is a species of solitary mining bee in the family Andrenidae. It occurs in Europe and spends much of its adult activity gathering pollen and nectar and excavating a nest in the ground, where the female provisions separate cells for her offspring. The species is associated with ear...

Nomada lathburiana is a cleptoparasitic bee in the family Apidae, commonly called a nomad or cuckoo bee. It does not construct and provision a nest of its own; instead, the female enters nests of the ashy mining bee, Andrena cineraria, and places an egg there. The emerging larva uses the host’s poll...

Hylaeus confusus is a small solitary bee in the family Colletidae and is distributed across Europe. Adults have a predominantly black body, with pale yellow facial markings that are useful for identification, although markings can vary between individuals and sexes. Females nest in pre-existing cavi...

Ceratina dupla is a small carpenter bee native to eastern North America. Its body is generally dark and shiny, and the female excavates or enlarges a narrow nest gallery in the pith of a hollow or soft-stemmed plant rather than living in a large social colony. She provisions individual brood cells w...

Bombus campestris, described by Panzer in 1801, is a European cuckoo bumblebee and a social parasite of other bumblebees. The female does not establish a worker-producing colony of her own; instead, she enters a host nest, suppresses or replaces the resident queen, and lays eggs that are reared by h...

Megachile perihirta is a species of solitary leafcutter bee in the genus Megachile, a group of bees whose females commonly use pieces of leaves or other plant material when constructing nest cells. It is native to North America and is treated as a wild bee rather than a social, hive-forming species....

Partamona helleri is a stingless bee endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, easily identified by the unique, waxy entrance tubes it builds for its ground nests.

Melissodes desponsus, commonly called the eastern thistle long-horned bee, is a solitary bee in the family Apidae and genus Melissodes. It is native to the eastern United States and eastern Canada, where females nest in the ground and visit thistles and other flowers for pollen and nectar. The long-...

Bombus citrinus, the lemon cuckoo bumblebee, is a parasitic bumblebee in the subgenus Psithyrus. It does not establish a normal worker-producing colony or rear its own young; instead, a female enters a nest of a host bumblebee and uses that colony to raise her offspring. The species is most common i...

Megachile melanophaea is a solitary North American leafcutter bee in the family Megachilidae. It is distributed across much of Canada and the northern United States, including Alaska, and is recognized by its generally dark appearance and pale abdominal hair markings. Females construct brood cells u...

Osmia marginata is a solitary mason bee in the family Megachilidae and is native to North America rather than Europe. It was described by Charles D. Michener in 1936 and is associated with arid regions of the southwestern United States, including parts of California, Nevada, and Utah. Its nesting bi...

Megachile mendica, commonly called the flat-tailed leafcutter bee, is a solitary bee in the family Megachilidae. Ezra Townsend Cresson described the species in 1878, and its native range is in North America. Like other leafcutter bees, it uses pieces of leaves to construct nest cells rather than for...

Andrena labialis is a European mining bee notably characterized by its unusually expanded mouthparts, and it typically forages on nectar and pollen from leguminous plants.

Megachile maxillosa is a solitary bee found across Africa and the Middle East, notable for its leaf-cutting nesting habits and its role in pollinating regional desert flora.