Mining Bees
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Mining Bees (family Andrenidae) get their common name based on their practice of building ground nests.
While they are classified as solitary bees, often females build nests in proximity to each other, creating large mining bee colonies.
A couple of sentences describing the over one thousand native mining bee species can reasonably be called insufficient. Only the explanation of a trained entomologist, with years of experience could do the family explanatory justice.
Having said that, the bulk of native mining bees slightly resemble a smaller version of a honeybee, albeit one with a darker body.
Since that description might also apply to other bees, identifying any of the over one thousand mining bee species native to the United States can be difficult.
The number of species in the Andrena genus far surpasses the number of species in any other Andrenidae genera. Most of the species display a hairy thorax with a less hairy, or close to no hairs on the abdomen.
They can be the size of a honeybee, or smaller. The eyes are oval, or a tear drop shape.
Based on the general description, the top picture is tentatively identified as a mining bee in the genus Andrena.
© 2009 Patricia A. Michaels