In honor of National Pollinator Week last month, let’s give a tribute to a native New York bee. The state is home to hundreds of different kinds of bees, but this is a shout-out to the mason bee.
The Buzzing Diversity: 15 Bee Species Commonly Found in New York
New York is home to an impressive variety of bee species. These important pollinators come in a rainbow of colors and exhibit fascinating behaviors as they go about their critical work fertilizing plants. Getting to know the most common types found across the state can help you appreciate the diversity right in your own backyard.
Bumblebees
Large and fuzzy, bumblebees are one of the most familiar bee species in New York. They nest in small colonies underground and prefer habitats like meadows and prairies. Though they don’t make honey, bumblebees are essential pollinators for crops like blueberries and cranberries. Their furry bodies are efficient at catching and distributing pollen.
Carpenter Bees
This aptly named group excavates tunnels for nesting in wood, including fences, logs and the eaves of houses. They resemble bumblebees but are shiny rather than fuzzy. Two main types are found in New York: large carpenter bees which are up to an inch long and small carpenter bees which are under half an inch. Though sometimes considered pests, carpenter bees are docile and pollinate many wildflowers.
Sweat Bees
Tiny sweat bees earned their common name from their attraction to perspiration. They like the salt it contains These small bees have a metallic sheen and stingers, though they rarely use them. With over 1000 species worldwide, sweat bees are one of the most diverse bee groups They nest underground and pollinate crops like tomatoes, apples and blueberries.
Squash Bees
As their name indicates, squash bees specialize in pollinating squash plants like pumpkins, zucchinis and gourds. They are important for successful harvests, performing this task more efficiently than even honeybees. Squash bees are medium-sized with a furry orange and black striped abdomen. The males sleep overnight inside closed squash flowers.
Mason Bees
These fascinating bees use mud or clay to build nests, sealing off chambers like tiny masonry bricks. They come in striking metallic greenish-blue hues. Mason bees do not live in colonies. Because they carry pollen on their bodies rather than in sacs, they deposit it very efficiently. For this reason, mason bees are used commercially for orchard and field crop pollination.
Leafcutter Bees
As their name suggests, these bees cut circular fragments of leaves to line their nests and partition nursery chambers. The leaf pieces help regulate humidity to protect pollen stores. Leafcutter bees are large, range from black to striped in color and resemble flies. With over 1500 species, they are one of the most diverse bee groups in New York and important crop pollinators.
Honey Bees
European honey bees are not native but were imported for honey production and commercial pollination purposes. They live in enormous colonies of up to 60,000 individuals and are amber-brown in color. Honey bees have complex social structures including workers, drones and queens. Sadly, these bees face threats like habitat loss, diseases and pesticides.
Digger Bees
These fuzzy, medium-sized to large bees excavate underground burrows. They prefer sandy soils and are usually active in the morning when conditions are cooler. Species often specialize in collecting pollen from certain flower groups like asters, goldenrods and foxgloves. Their nests consist of branching tunnels leading to brood cells.
Mining Bees
Similar to digger bees, these bees burrow in the ground. However, they prefer clay soils and utilize existing small cracks or holes to build long tunnels. Each tunnel may have several nursery chambers in which they store pollen. Mining bees are small, plump, fuzzy and black with yellow markings on the thorax.
Cuckoo Bees
These slender bees are sneaky – they don’t build nests or gather their own pollen. Instead, cuckoo bees lay eggs in other bees’ nests. When the eggs hatch, the larvae kill the host eggs and consume the pollen stores. With variable black and white banding, cuckoo bees resemble wasps. There are many different cuckoo bee species that target specific host bee nests.
Polyester Bees
Aptly named for the plastic-like, water resistant lining they secrete in their nests, polyester bees are medium-sized with gray and black striped abdomens. They specialize in pollinating certain flowers based on the species. Active in the early morning and at dusk, these bees construct branching underground burrows that interconnect.
Small Carpenter Bees
The smaller relatives of large carpenter bees tunnel into pithy stems of plants like sumac, elderberry and raspberries rather than wood. They are more slender and about half an inch long. Their color is shiny blackish-green. Small carpenter bees sometimes cohabitate with other females in a single tunnel, an unusual trait for a solitary bee species.
Understanding the wonderful diversity of bee species that call New York home can help residents appreciate the vital ecosystems in their own backyards and neighborhoods. Simple actions like planting pollinator gardens and avoiding pesticide use protects these important pollinators.
“What are Mason Bees?”
New York State is home to more than 400 species of bees, but mason bees only make up about 7% of that diversity. These small bees are important pollinators of crops, wildflowers, and many other woodland, meadow and wetland plants. Unlike honeybees, which are sial in nature, mason bees are solitary. They build their own nests in hollow reeds or other plant stems, holes that are already there, or burrows that they find in dead wood. Their name comes from the fact that they bring mud to nesting areas to build structures in which to lay their eggs.
Mason bees come from the tribe Osmini of the family Megachilidae. In New York State, mason bees include genera such as Osmia, Hoplitis, Chelostoma, and Heriades. Each genera has specific characteristics. Also, these mild-mannered bees only sting if provoked or cornered, so they are ideal for observing up close.
Most of the time, when people talk about “mason bees,” they’re talking about bees from the genus Osmia. A key trait of these types of bees that they are an energetic fast flier. Osmia mason bees tend to be small-to-medium in size with a robust build and relatively large heads. Within the genera, there are three subgenera (or subspecies): Helicosmia, Melanosmia, and Osmia. In New York, there are at least 25 native Osmia species.
Hoplitis Mason Bees: These bees pollinate bushes and trees in the woods, flowers and berries in the garden, and some types of commercial fruit. What makes them different from Osmia mason bees is that their bodies are slenderer. Hoplitis mason bees tend to be black to darkly-colored with pale abdominal stripes. These bees build walls between the brood cells of their nests out of chewed leaves, dirt, pebbles, or small pieces of wood. There are seven Hoplitis species found in New York.
Chelostoma Mason Bees: The mock orange Chelostoma (Chelostoma philadelphi), is the only species of this type of mason bee that lives in New York State.
Their appearance is small and ant-like, with disproportionately long jaws compared to the rest of its body. This group of bees is very picky about the plants they eat and pollinate. The bee, which is named after the genus Philadelphus, helps the mock orange shrub (Chelostoma) make pollen. For people who like bees, there are also two non-native species of Chelostoma in New York that like to eat bellflowers.
Heriades Bees: Last, but certainly not least, is the resin bee, genus Heriades. What are resin bees? Resin bees and mason bees live very similar lives; they both live alone in nests instead of hives. But unlike the other three genera, resin bee nests are located in the ground. Heriades bees can eat a lot of different plants and don’t favor one over another when they’re pollinating wild and crop plants. Most of the time, these bees are dark in color and have a thin to medium build. They have very little body hair.
“What is the life cycle of a mason bee?”
While their lives are short, mason bee are very hard workers, making then truly a “busy bee.”
There is only one generation of mason bee per year.
Around five or six fully grown bees are waiting in each cocoon inside the nest tunnel or cavity for the right time to come out. There is a thin mud wall between each cocoon in the tunnel. It was built by the adult mother bee the spring before. To keep the babies safe through the winter, the ends of each tunnel are sealed with a thick plug of mud or chewed leaves.
Once the temperature stays above 55 degrees for a few days in the spring, both males and females come out of their cocoons. The male bees always come out first. They stay close to the nest and leave their mark while they wait for the female mason bees. They leave only to feed on the nectar from flowers and plants.
Females hatch unable to fly, and immediately mate with the waiting male mason bees. Females mate with several males during this period. After mating, the males die and complete their life cycle. Unlike their females in their species, male mason bees only live for a few days.
Mason bee females start building their nests three to four days after mating. They usually choose holes that are already there. After putting mud in the bottom of the hole, the bees start to bring pollen and nectar from nearby flower buds to throw in as well.
Once the female has enough food for her young, she lays eggs on top of the pollen and covers the cell with thin mud. She does this over and over again until either the whole tunnel is used or all of her eggs are laid. The sperm she saved from mating with the male mason bee fertilizes the eggs, but only if she wants to have female babies. An unfertilized egg will become male. Typically, two-thirds of cocoons will be male mason bees.
Hatching in a few days, larvae devour the pollen and nectar mixture in the nest. How big the bees that come out in the spring will depend on how much mixture the female collected. The larger the piles of pollen and nectar, the larger the bees.
In about ten days, the larvae spin into a cocoon and pupate inside. End of summer is when the bees become imagos, which are their adult form. They stay in their cocoon until spring of the following year. Their roles completed, the female mason bees die that fall and the cycle begins all over again.
16 Types of Bees
FAQ
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