California is home to an astonishing diversity of native bee species, over 1600 in total! While the European honey bee is the most familiar backyard visitor, our state hosts a wide variety of native bees with unique traits and behaviors
From furry bumble bees to metallic green sweat bees, let’s get acquainted with some of the most common bee species buzzing around the Golden State.
Why Native Bees Matter
Native bees play vital ecological roles as pollinators of wild plants and crops. Their declines can destabilize ecosystems and food production. Providing habitat for native bees increases biodiversity and supports sustainable gardens and agriculture.
Bee Diversity in California
California’s mild climate enables bees to be active year-round The state contains a mix of species also found in adjacent regions For example
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Desert-adapted bees in southern California
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Species from the Pacific Northwest along the northern coast
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Bees overlapping with the Southwest in inland valleys
Factors like elevation, soil type, and vegetation patterns influence local bee diversity. Urban gardens can support healthy native bee communities with careful planting and management.
Some key features distinguishing California’s bees:
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Most are solitary ground or cavity nesters, not social hive builders.
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They gather pollen to provision individual nest cells, not make honey.
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Life cycles are mostly annual, focused on reproduction.
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Many specialize on certain flower types or plants.
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Most don’t sting aggressively, if at all.
Now let’s highlight some stand-out native bee species you might see.
Digger Bees
[Picture of Anthophora urbana digger bee]
100+ California species
Digger bees excavate nests in bare soil, favoring well-drained, sandy spots. These fuzzy bees frequent a variety of flowers. They carry pollen on their legs and under their abdomens.
Watch for these bees hovering low over ground, or visiting lavender, sunflowers, phacelia, and more. Their gentle nature makes them garden allies.
Fun fact: Male digger bees have bulging eyes that reflect rainbow colors!
Masked Bees
[Picture of Hylaeus bee]
15+ California species
These slender, bald bees have yellow and black markings on their faces. They don’t collect pollen on their legs, just in their crop.
Masked bees prefer flowers like carrots, mustards, and mints. They nest in hollow stems and wood crevices. Give them bamboo tubes or bundles of pithy stems.
Long-Horned Bees
35+ California species
Male long-horned bees have incredibly long antennae to help find females. The females have short antennas like most bees.
These hairy, medium-sized bees frequent sunflowers, lupines, blazing stars, and salvias. Their nests are dug in soil.
Leaf-Cutter Bees
30+ California species
Leaf-cutter bees slice circular pieces of leaves to build protective nest partitions. Watch for their distinctive pollen-laden abdomens.
They prefer flowers of squashes, lilacs, roses, and clovers. Nest boxes with tubes or holes are ideal homes for these gentle pollinators.
Fun fact: Leafcutter bees often ride around on roomba vacuums to collect hair!
Bumble Bees
25+ California species
These familiar fat and fuzzy insects form small colonies, usually underground. Larger and more aggressive than other native bees, their defensive buzzing serves as a warning.
Bumble bees remain common across California. Support them by planting cotoneaster, penstemon, ceanothus, and salvias.
Carpenter Bees
5 California species
[Picture of carpenter bee]
Our largest bees, female valley carpenter bees excavate nests in soft or decaying wood. The males can’t sting and are sometimes held by brave bee enthusiasts!
Carpenter bees are important pollinators of flowers like lupines, phacelia, and clarkia. It’s best to let them be unless they become too damaging.
Mining Bees
200+ California species
These ground-nesting bees dig solitary burrows in bare soil. They carry pollen on their hind legs and thoraxes. Mining bees frequent many flower types including forget-me-nots, peas, and fruit trees.
Wool Carder Bees
2 California species
Recognizable by their buzz cut look and aggressive territorial behavior, wool carder bees got their name from collecting plant hairs to line nests. Non-native but established in California, they visit lamb’s ear and mints.
Mason Bees
15+ California species
[Picture of blue orchard bee]
Mason bees use mud or chewed leaves to build nest partitions. They favor fruit tree blossoms. Orchard mason bees are used commercially for orchard crop pollination.
Fun fact: Male mason bees form nightly sleeping groups on flowers!
Sweat Bees
300+ California species
These common, small bees earned their name from lapping up sweat. But they more often sip nectar from flowers, and are important pollinators of vegetables, fruits, and ornamentals.
Support sweat bees by growing asters, ceanothus, sunflowers, primrose, and wild buckwheat. Ensure bare soil areas for nesting.
Takeaway
California’s amazing bee diversity relies on habitat protection. Get familiar with the species buzzing around your neighborhood and support them through conscientious gardening!
WHAT TYPES OF BEES ARE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA?
Bats are the only mammals that fly. They typically roost in caves, mines, crevices, bridges and tree hollows. They are nocturnal and leave their roosts to find water and food. All bats can see but use acoustic orientation called echolocation to locate prey. They can catch food directly in their mouths, but most of the time they catch bugs in the membranes of their wings as they fly. Then they find a place to rest and eat. Being mammals, females give birth to live young and produce milk. They nurse their young, called pups, for about 2 weeks. Pups are born blind, without fur and unable to fly. They are raised in nursery colonies. They begin to fly at around 3 weeks. By about 6 or 7 weeks the young are independent.
There are 1000 species of native bees in California. Only 26 of them are bumblebees, and the rest are mostly solitary bees. The bumblebee, the European honey bee, the Africanized honey bee, and the carpenter bee are the main types of bees we see in Southern California. The fuzzy stripes on a bumblebee make it easy to tell them apart, but it’s not so easy to tell the difference between a European honey bee and an Africanized honey bee. The difference between them can be verified with a microscope.
Bumblebees are found living in nests in number of 15 to 100 bees. They do not have permanent colonies. The queen starts a new colony each spring. They are twice the size of a honey bee, between 1 to 1 ½ inches long. Bumblebees can be found in holes in the ground, like an old gopher hole, under sheds, and other places that are low to the ground. Bumblebees are seasonal summer bees. When defending their hive they can be aggressive, stinging multiple times without losing their stinger. They are sought after by tomato farmers who know the value of their pollination effectiveness.
Nearly all carpenter bees build their nests in burrows in dead wood, bamboo, or structural timbers. Approximately 1 inch in length, Carpenter bees are one of the largest American native bees. They resemble bumble bees but have a shiny abdomen, where bumblebees have hairy abdomens. Female carpenter bees are capable of stinging, but they are docile and rarely sting unless directly provoked. The males are harmless, since they do not have a stinger. Carpenter bees are pollinators of eggplant, tomato and other vegetables.
It is difficult to differentiate the European honey bee from the Africanized honey bee.
European Honey Bee – The European honey bee lives in hives with between 5,000 and 15,000 other bees. Honey bees live year around and stay dormant in the winter. They look like a huge swarm moving or like 5 to 20 bees buzzing around the openings in a building.
Africanized Honey Bee – The Africanized honey bee looks like the European honey bee. The Africanized honey bees are very protective of their home and can attack in large groups to defend it, even though they are barely smaller. They may stay aggressive for days after being disturbed. Some smells, like fresh cut grass, bananas, and the breath of mammals, make them angry. Loud noises and vibrations also make them angry.
Survey of California bumble bees fails to detect 8 species historically found in the state
FAQ
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