Territorial-male-behavior
Guides
Anthidium
Wool Carder Bees, Carder Bees, Potter Bees
Anthidium is a genus of solitary bees in the family Megachilidae containing approximately 80 species. These bees are commonly known as wool carder or potter bees due to their distinctive nest-building behavior: females collect plant hairs, conifer resin, mud, or combinations thereof to construct brood cells. Unlike leafcutter bees in the same family, Anthidium species do not cut leaf pieces. They possess pollen-carrying scopa exclusively on the ventral surface of the abdomen, a characteristic trait of Megachilidae. The genus is primarily distributed in the Northern Hemisphere and South America.
Svastra obliqua
sunflower bee
Svastra obliqua is a long-horned bee in the family Apidae, commonly known as the sunflower bee. It is native to Central America and North America, with three recognized subspecies. The species shows strong floral fidelity to sunflowers (Helianthus) and other members of the Asteraceae family, though it will collect pollen from various aster family plants. Males exhibit distinctive sleeping behavior, clustering on flowers or stems at night while females nest in underground burrows.
Xylocopa virginica texana
Texas Carpenter Bee
Xylocopa virginica texana is a subspecies of the eastern carpenter bee, distinguished as the Texas Carpenter Bee. Like other carpenter bees in the genus Xylocopa, females excavate nesting galleries in wood, while males defend territories near these sites. The subspecies occurs in Texas and adjacent regions, representing the southwestern extent of Xylocopa virginica's range. Research on related carpenter bees has revealed that these bees host gut bacterial communities similar to social bees like honey bees and bumble bees, despite lacking eusocial organization.