Everything You Wanted to Know About the Other Bees !!!

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Other Bees

The Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee, the Blue Orchard Bee, Mason Bees, 

and the Shaggyfuzzy Foot Bee!

The Alfalfa Leafcutting Bee, Megachile rotundata, is a very important pollinator of alfalfa for alfalfa seed production.  This bee species was introduced to the United States from Eurasia in the late 1930s.  Wherever the bee is managed efficiently and effectively, alfalfa seed yields increase dramatically compared to pollination with honey bees or no bee.  The alfalfa leafcutting bee is solitary and lives only several weeks in the summer.  After mating with short-lived males, female bees construct their own nests, gather nectar and pollen for provisions in individual nest cells, and lay eggs on the provisions.  At the end of the summer, females die without ever seeing their offspring that spend the winter as prepupae (large larvae) in leaf-lined cocoons.

Some alfalfa growers will manage their own bees, or will buy or supplement their bee stock from alfalfa leafcutting bee suppliers, who are usually in Canada.  Bees raised in Canada are mostly free of chalkbrood disease and pollen balls and, thus, are very important for sustaining healthy populations of leafcutting bees for alfalfa seed production in the United States.  Alfalfa leafcutting bees are also be used to pollinate canola, carrots, and melons.

In recent years, the Blue Orchard Bee, Osmia lignaria, (BOB) has become established as an alternative orchard pollinator in North America. With a strong preference for fruit trees, BOBs are highly efficient pollinators; in fact, just 250-300 females will pollinate an entire acre of apples or cherries.  BOBs forage and pollinate under cloudy skies and at lower temperatures than most other bees.  They are easy to manage and rarely sting.

Blue Orchard Bees are solitary nesting bees.  They nest in 5/16" diameter holes, 6" deep.  When properly managed, they can provide excellent pollination on their own or with honey bees.  This would be an excellent combination to make up for any disease or toxic exposure for the Honey Bees who often travel 1 to 3 miles to gather pollen.

Mason Bee is a name now commonly used for species of bees in the genus Osmia, of the family Megachilidae. Mason bees are named for their habit of using mud or other "masonry" products in constructing their nests, which are made in naturally occurring gaps such as between cracks in stones or other small dark cavities. When available, some species preferentially use hollow stems or holes in wood made by wood-boring insects.  

Mason Bees can also be cultivated by providing a “home” for them made out of small bamboo tubes, stacked so the bees have access to an open end.  They will nest and lay their eggs in these tubes.  It possible to buy ready-made tube homes for Mason bees to ensure the next generation will hatch and pollenate in your garden or orchard.  Female mason bees have a stinger, but they are not aggressive and rarely sting, even when handled.  Male mason bees do not have a stinger.

Among the least common managed bees in the US is the Shaggy Fuzzyfoot Bee, Anthophora pilipes villosula. This solitary bee is native to Europe and Asia, and is a relatively recent introduction in the US - imported from Japan in the early 1990s by the USDA Bee Research Lab in Beltsville, Maryland.

The fuzzyfoot is a fairly large bee that superficially resembles a drab bumble bee. Like bumble bees, the fuzzyfoot is reputed to have some thermoregulatory ability, and is capable of generating body heat— allowing the bee to forage even in cool and wet conditions. However, this bee apparently has limited winter hardiness, and its management is restricted to warm, humid climates.

Nesting for the fuzzyfoot occurs in exposed vertical banks or dry adobe. Female bees construct cavities by first softening dry mud with nectar or saliva, then they produce an oily secretion which is used to line the brood cells. Stackable adobe blocks, sheltered against rain and moisture, are used as a managed nesting system. Like some other cavity-nesting bees, the fuzzyfoot is gregarious and tends to locate nests near its own natal home.

Fuzzyfoot bees are reportedly excellent pollinators of high-bush blueberries, both in the southern US and in Japan. Adult foraging lasts roughly three weeks during the spring, and there is one generation each year.

There is an ongoing effort to help farmers, gardeners, and orchard growers have access to “alternative pollinators”.  All bees need protection from toxins.  They all need safe places to nest and lay eggs.  And, Human Beings, that’s us, need lots of pollinators in order that we have the herbs, fruits, and vegetables that we need to be healthy.  Let’s remember to be grateful for these very small and very essential “workers” and do everything we can to protect them!

I compiled this general information about “alternative pollinators” from the USDA, Wikipedia, and Google.  More and more I am fascinated and amazed by all these wonderful creatures that exist with us in this world.  We have been very blessed!

Have a Wonderful Week …  Mary Christopher