ID tips: Yellow and black bands and an orange tail. Small size. Males have yellow facial hair.
Description: The UK’s smallest bumblebee. Common in gardens and other areas with trees and bushes. The early bumblebee is a key pollinator of summer fruits such as raspberries.
Bees are incredibly diverse, with over 20,000 species worldwide. While most people are familiar with honeybees there are many other bee species that play a vital role as pollinators. One distinctive group is big-eyed bees, which can be identified by their enlarged compound eyes. In this article, we’ll explore some of the most common big-eyed bees found in backyards and gardens, how to identify them and their importance as pollinators.
What Are Big-Eyed Bees?
Big-eyed bees belong to the insect families Apidae and Halictidae. As their name suggests, their most conspicuous feature is their large bulging eyes.
Compared to other bees, big-eyed bees have compound eyes that take up a greater portion of their head. Their eyes may even wrap around the sides of their heads. This expanded eye surface provides them with excellent vision to spot food sources while zipping through the air.
Big-eyed bees include some of the smallest bee species like Perdita minima which is only 2mm long. But even the largest big-eyed bees typically don’t exceed 1 cm in body length. Most species are black, brown or metallic in color with pale markings on their faces.
Why Do Big-Eyed Bees Have Large Eyes?
The large eyes of these bees allow them to see more of their surroundings. Their vision is well-adapted to detect motion and changes in light patterns. This helps them quickly identify flowers, track prey, and avoid obstacles mid-flight.
Many big-eyed bees are speedy, agile fliers. Their souped-up vision gives them fast reflexes to match their flying skills. Large eyes also improve their ability to control precise landings on small targets like flower stamens.
Additionally, some big-eyed bees are crepuscular, meaning they are most active in low light at dawn and dusk. Having expanded eyes increases their ability to see when light conditions are dim.
Identifying 5 Common Big-Eyed Bees
Here are 5 types of big-eyed bees commonly found visiting flowers:
1. Hylaeus Bees
There are over 130 species of Hylaeus or masked bees in the US. They earned the nickname masked bees because their huge eyes dominate their heads, making it look like they’re wearing masks.
These solitary bees have yellow or white facial markings and long antennae. Their wiry black bodies give them a wasp-like appearance. But they can be identified by their lack of body hair and the presence of pollen-carrying hairs on their bellies rather than legs.
Masked bees nest in existing tunnels and are important pollinators of crops like alfalfa and wildflowers like boneset.
2. Colletes Bees
Colletes bees comprise about 30 North American species. These solitary ground-nesting bees are sometimes called cellophane or plasterer bees.
They have distinctively bulging eyes on either side of their heads. Species like the yellow-banded Colletes have striking contrasting colors with a black head, thorax and tip of the abdomen separated by bright yellow bands on their stomachs.
Plasterer bees get their name from their nest-sealing behavior. Female bees coat the walls of their nests with a waterproof, cellophane-like material.
3. Green Metallic Sweat Bees
Many species of metallic-colored sweat bees in the Halictidae family have enlarged eyes like Augochloropsis metallica or the green metallic sweat bee.
Less than 1 cm long, these tiny bees are a beautiful iridescent green. The males have especially sizable eyes that wrap around the sides of their heads.
Sweat bees are attracted to human perspiration as a source of water and minerals. But they rarely sting unless provoked. As generalist pollinators, they visit a wide variety of flowering plants.
4. Large Carpenter Bees
The half-dozen species of large carpenter bees in the US are solitary bees with bulbous eyes. They can be nearly an inch long making them some of the biggest bees in North America.
Most large carpenter bees are robust, shiny black bees. But some species like Xylocopa micans have a green metallic sheen. Males of this species have huge eyes that meet at the top of their heads.
As their name indicates, carpenter bees drill holes in wood to make their nests. The females have powerful mandibles well-suited to boring into wood.
5. Perdita Minima
At only 2mm in length, Perdita minima holds the record for the world’s smallest bee. This tiny bee has enormous eyes relative to its pinhead-sized body.
Perdita mining bees are native to arid regions of the southwestern US. Due to their miniscule size, they are rarely noticed. But they play an important ecological role as specialist pollinators of specific wildflowers.
Benefits of Big-Eyed Bees
Like all bees, big-eyed bees provide valuable pollination services. Though they don’t produce honey, they pollinate wild plants and many crops.
Some big-eyed bees have specialized pollinating relationships with particular plants. For example, masked bees pollinate wildflowers like asters and goldenrods which provide food for migrating birds.
Big-eyed bees work quickly thanks to their excellent vision and flying skills. A single female masked bee may visit up to 15 flowers per minute!
These efficient pollinators make a substantial contribution to biodiversity and crop yields. Protecting habitats that support diverse native bee communities results in a healthier ecosystem.
So next time you notice a small, quick bee with bulging eyes visiting your garden, remember it is likely an ally providing free pesticide-free pollination. Learning to identify the different types of native bees is a fun way to discover the diversity in your own backyard.
Get your own bee ID guide
Buy a bee saver kit and a fold-out bee identification guide to take to the garden or park near you.
Wildflower seeds are in the kit to attract and feed more bees. There is also a garden planner and a postcard with a bee on it.
When to see them: April-November.
Nesting habits: Old burrows or tussocks.
ID tips: Black body and an orange tail. Male red-tailed bumblebees have a yellow ruff.
You are most likely to see the red-tailed bumblebee out of the three species that are this color. However, keep an eye out for dark-winged red-tailed cuckoo bees, which are nest parasites.
See our guide to red-tailed black bumblebees.
When to see them: March-November.
Nesting habits: In tussocks.
ID tips: Varying shades of brown or ginger. Rear legs bare and shiny. Common carder bees have black hairs on their abdomen.
Description: The brown bumblebee you will most likely see is the common carder bee. All three like tubular flowers such as foxglove and deadnettles along with legume flowers including beans.
See our guide to brown carder bees.
When to see them: March-July.
Nesting habits: Cavities above ground.
ID tips: Ginger thorax, black abdomen and a white tail. Black underside.
Description: This distinctive bumblebee first arrived in the UK in 2001. As its name suggests it prefers to nest in trees, also using bird boxes and buildings.
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When to see them: May-September.
Nesting habits: In tussocks.
ID tips: Pale yellow and grey bands with a peachy tail.
Description: This is one of Britain’s rarest bumblebees. It can only be found in grasslands in southern England and Wales that have lots of legume flowers like clovers, vetches, and trefoils.
When to see them: March-October.
Nesting habits: Beehives or cavities above ground.
ID tips: Abdomen with amber bands or completely black. Buff-haired thorax. Rear legs bare and shiny.
Description: Most honeybees in the UK live in hives managed by beekeepers. Each hive can contain over 20,000 bees. Only worker honeybees make delicious honey, using nectar gathered from flowers.
and give nature a boost.
When to see them: March-June.
Nesting habits: Aerial or ground nester (banks, walls or bare ground).
ID tips: Females: Black with yellow legs. Males: Brown with a pale face and hair plumes on their middle legs.
Description: These bumblebee-lookalikes are amongst the earliest bees to emerge in spring. They dart rapidly between flowers and blossoms, particularly favouring lungwort, deadnettles and wallflowers.
When to see them: March-June.
Nesting habits: Bee nest parasite.
ID tips: Grey collar. White spots along abdomen. Sometimes all-black. Pointed rear.
Description: The common mourning bee is a ‘cuckoo bee’. She lays her eggs in the nests of hairy-footed flower bees. The larvae eat the flower bees’ stored food for their own young.
When to see them: May-July.
Nesting habits: Aerial nester including bee hotels.
ID tips: Yellow spots along abdomen. Males have prongs on their rear.
Description: Female wool carder bees gather balls of plant hairs to build their nest cells. Males protect hairy plants like lamb’s-ear by fighting off other bees so they can mate with females that come to visit.
When to see them: May-August.
Nesting habits: Aerial nesters including bee hotels.
ID tips: Broad head and body. Females have a brush of hairs under the abdomen.
Description: Found neat crescents cut from your rose bush? Thats a sign that leafcutter bees are about. The female uses the leaves to line her chosen nest cavity and build snug cells for her young.
When to see them: June-August.
Nesting habits: Aerial nesting including bee hotels.
ID tips: Very small (6-7mm), black and shiny. Slender body with a large head. Female collects pollen under her abdomen.
Description: Britains smallest bee. The females mainly collect pollen from bellflowers (campanulas) and nest inside woodworm holes in dead wood. The males sleep inside flowers.
When to see them: March-June.
Nesting habits: Aerial nester including bee hotels.
ID tips: Bristly orange hair with dark head and thorax showing through. Males have white face hairs. Female collects pollen under abdomen.
Description: A common resident of bee hotels and stone walls. Females gather mud to build their nest cells and are efficient pollinators of fruit-tree blossoms. Smaller males hover around nest sites.
When to see them: March-June.
Nesting habits: Ground nester.
ID tips: Thick orange coat. Black leg and face hairs. Collects pollen on legs.
Description: This bee makes volcano-like mounds of soil at its nest entrance in lawns and mown banks. The bright orange females forage on spring blossoms.
When to see them: March-June.
Nesting habits: Ground nester.
ID tips: Black with double ashy bands across the thorax.
This black-and-white mining bee often builds her nest in groups along sunny paths and short grass, but each female has her own nest. This bee is an important pollinator of oilseed rape.
When to see them: March-July.
Nesting habits: Ground nester.
ID tips: Rusty thorax. Black abdomen with tuft of rusty hairs on the rear. Yellow rear legs.
Description: The orange-tailed mining bee is common in many habitats, even in urban areas. They nest on grassy slopes and forage mainly from blossoming shrubs.
When to see them: May-August.
Nesting habits: Ground and cliff nester.
ID tips: Grey-brown hair. Males have very long antennae. Females have a white tail.
Description: The male long-horned bee has unmistakeable oversized antennae. This bee is going extinct, and it needs open areas with lots of legume flowers, like vetches and trefoils, and nearby rocky outcroppings to build its nests.
When to see them: March-November.
Nesting habits: None.
ID tips: Very varied. Large eyes which sometimes meet in the middle. Antennae short with few segments.
Description: Many of these flies look like bees and wasps to scare away predators that don’t want to get stung. There are even hairy hoverflies that mimic bumblebees. Like bees they are great pollinators.
When to see them: April-September.
Nesting habits: In cavities or tree branches.
ID tips: Cone-shaped abdomen with yellow stripes. Builds a paper nest.
Description: Social wasps live in nests made out of chewed wood. Though often seen as pests, they are important for pollination and pest control. The workers hunt insects to feed the larvae and visit flowers for nectar.
When to see them: March-August.
Nesting habits: Bee nest parasite.
ID tips: Long proboscis. Short antennae. Hovers around flowers.
Description: Bee flies not only look like bees, they live with them. Females fling their eggs into solitary bee burrows where the larvae eat the pollen stores. The adult flies like deadnettle and primrose flowers.
With thanks to Chris Shields for bee illustrations.
Your continued support has brought about crucial changes to protect bees. These include:
- A ban on 3 bee-harming neonicotinoid pesticides
- That’s right, the governments of the UK and Wales made the first nationwide plans for bees.
- Communities should be encouraged to set up bee-friendly areas that give bees and other pollinating insects better places to eat and stay.
If youd like to support our efforts to help bees, buy a Bee Saver Kit today.
Amazing Time-Lapse: Bees Hatch Before Your Eyes | National Geographic
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