![]() ![]() Males grow to around 19mm in body length with large eyes and yellow hairs on their face and thorax. Workers are smaller in size, usually around one centimeter in length with a similar color pattern to the queen, except their banding may be a brown/yellow color. The abdomen is yellow with black banding and their legs are black. ![]() The brown belted bumblebee (Bombus griseocollis) can be found throughout Pennsylvania with queens growing to 23mm in body length with a black face with some yellow hairs. Brown-belted Bumble Bee Brown-belted Bumble Bee Males also have a white spot on their faces. ![]() Males have a longer body, while females have a wider head. These bees are a similar size to bumblebees, but with a mostly black body with a purple tint. Their nests can be found in a number of wooded areas, where they feed on nectar and pollen. The Eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) can be found throughout the Eastern United States. Eastern Carpenter Bee Eastern Carpenter Bee Queens grow to 20mm in body length, workers to 15mm, and males to around 17mm. Their pollen basket is on their hind legs. These bees are a red/brown color with black banding and orange to yellow rings on the abdomen. This bee has gone through significant declines throughout Europe and is listed on the IUCN Red List. Humans have introduced this bee throughout the world, except in Antarctica. It is the primary species for beekeepers for pollination and honey production. These bees create colonies, which house thousands of bees. The Western honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a European honey bee. The queen and worker bumblebees have black with a yellow thorax, while the male has a yellow head and face. Males vary slightly from the queen and workers. Queens grow to around 23mm in body length, while workers grow to around 16mm and males can grow to 18mm. The coloring is very similar between the queen and workers. These bumblebees have short hair with medium-sized heads and long rectangular bodies. They are an excellent pollinating species. They are very adaptable, living in the country, urban areas, and suburbs. Bee Informed lists their size range as between 1/4 and 3/4 inch.The common Eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) is one of the most commonly encountered bumblebees in Pennsylvania. Some species of Sweat Bees are quite small. Sorry I didn’t have anything to compare it to in the picture. These are closer to the size of honey bees ( though these in the picture are smaller than honey bees). I always thought sweat bees, or what we called sweat bees, were not as large as these. I have lots of mostly native flowers blooming in my yard right now, it is delightful to get native insects too. Wonderful Daniel! I noticed that each opening of the three or four there would often have a bee in it, I kept waiting to try to get a good picture, but they would duck back down. I’m seeing several different kinds of bumblebees also. OK, I guess I have seen both small and larger sweat bees in the yard. Generally the main burrow is vertical it sends horizontal branches, each branch ending in a solitary cell.” One of your images illustrates a Metallic Sweat Bee flying toward a hole that has its opening plugged by the head of another bee. Some are primitively eusocial in such cases usually a female guards the entrance to the burrow by plugging it with her head. Of the subfamily Halictinae, BugGuide notes: “Most species nest in burrows in banks or in the ground (Augochlora uses partially rotten logs). These beautiful, little, native bees are known as Metallic Sweat Bees, most likely in the genus Agapostemon, based on images posted to BugGuide. There has appeared in my buffalo grass lawn several dirt mounds that at first seem to be larger steep ant hills, but today I saw these colorful bees going in and out. ![]()
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