I have a new bee in the garden this summer on my sunflowers. It's solid, shiny black, roughly the size/shape of a honey bee, and definitely a pollen gatherer. It doesn't have ANY striping whatsoever. It has pollen carrying sacs on it's hind legs, which to me indicate some kind of honey producing bee. Does anyone have any idea what type it is?
2007-08-19 16:34:38 · 3 answers · asked by Doc Holliday 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Zoology
►The Apidae family has 1000 spp. Most are social insect (as the honey bee) living in complex colonies. The bumble bees colonies are very small. Few wouldn't be social insects.
See the shiny black 'Osmia ribifloris' photo in Wiki/bee... Was it?
►This is not a fly. It has pollen sacs.
►Do you want to see if it is a social bee? give it some honey or sweet and wait to see if many more would come later.
2007-08-19 17:00:18 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I can't identify the specific insect for you but can give you some clues to help you maybe identify it.
Bees, wasps and kin have oval eyes.
Flies have round eyes.
There are such things as Bee Flies and they look just like a bee but they hover instead of flying like bees generally do.
I hope this information has helped you.
Bee Flies will not sting you either.
2007-08-19 21:23:42 · answer #2 · answered by kriend 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Without seeing the photo I'd have to say it's actually a genus of fly know as "robber fly" or bee mimic. They mimic bee behavior in order to get close and eat them!
2007-08-19 16:50:29 · answer #3 · answered by mattmakesart 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋