trans1_small
University of Arizona
When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
  • Home
  • Pest Identification
    • Pest Identification Home
    • Diseases
    • Weeds
    • Insects
    • Pest Diagnostics
    • Pest Identification - Outputs
    • Events
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Agricultural IPM
    • Agricultural IPM Home
    • Vegetables
    • Field Crops
    • Other Crops
    • Agricultural Pesticide Safety
    • Agricultural IPM Outputs
    • Events
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • IPM Assessment
    • IPM Assessment Home
    • Crop Pest Losses
    • Impacts
    • EPA Pesticide Registration Reviews
    • How To Submit Comments to EPA
    • Previously Submitted EPA Comments
    • Projects
    • IPM Assessment Outputs
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Community IPM
    • Community IPM Home
    • School IPM
    • Public Health IPM
    • Turfgrass
    • Community Pesticide Safety
    • Community Insect Gallery
    • Handbook on Pests
    • Home and School IPM Newsletters
    • Community IPM Resources
    • Events
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Pesticide Education and Training
    • Pesticide Education and Training Home
    • Ag Licensing Resources
    • Community Licensing Resources
    • Special Pesticide Registrations
    • Pesticide Safety Outputs
    • Events
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • About Us
    • Partners and Links
    • Contact Us
    • Organizational Chart
    • Arizona Pest Management Center
    • Mission
    • Working Groups
    • Organization
    • Social Media
  • Home
  • Pest Identification
    • Pest Identification Home
    • Diseases
      • Publications And Resources
      • Photo Gallery
    • Weeds
      • Sample Submissions
      • Publications And Resources
      • Noxious Invasive Weeds
      • Weed Photo Gallery
      • Herbicide Injury
    • Insects
      • Sample Submissions
      • Publications And Resources
      • Insect Collection
      • Photo Gallery
      • Insect Injury
      • Community Insect Gallery
    • Pest Diagnostics
      • Herbicide Injury
      • Insect Injury
      • Publications And Resources
      • Photo Gallery
    • Pest Identification - Outputs
      • Presentations
      • Publications
      • Shorts
      • Medias
    • Events
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Agricultural IPM
    • Agricultural IPM Home
    • Vegetables
      • Lettuce
        • Crop Management
        • Soil Management
        • Irrigation
        • Varieties
        • Insects
        • Diseases
        • Weeds
      • Melons
        • Crop Management
        • Soil Management
        • Irrigation
        • Varieties
        • Insects
        • Diseases
        • Weeds
      • Cole Crops
        • Crop Management
        • Soil Management
        • Irrigation
        • Varieties
        • Insects
        • Diseases
        • Weeds
      • Spinach
        • Crop Management
        • Soil Management
        • Irrigation
        • Varieties
        • Insects
        • Diseases
        • Weeds
      • Vegetable Outputs
        • Presentations
        • Publications
      • VIPM Updates
      • VIPM Archive
      • Vegetable Video Archive
      • VIPM Update Cartoons
      • Events
    • Field Crops
      • Alfalfa
        • Crop Management
        • Soil Management
        • Irrigation
        • Varieties
        • Insects
        • Diseases
        • Weeds
        • Pesticide
      • Corn and Sorghum
        • Crop Management
        • Soil Management
        • Irrigation
        • Varieties
        • Insects
        • Diseases
        • Weeds
        • Pesticide
      • Cotton
        • Crop Management
        • Soil Management
        • Irrigation
        • Varieties
        • Insects
        • Diseases
        • Weeds
        • Pesticide
      • Guayule
        • Crop Management
        • Soil Management
        • Irrigation
        • Varieties
        • Insects
        • Diseases
        • Weeds
        • Pesticide
      • Small Grains
        • Crop Management
        • Soil Management
        • Irrigation
        • Varieties
        • Insects
        • Diseases
        • Weeds
        • Pesticide
      • Risk Reduction
      • Outputs
        • Publications
        • Presentations
        • Videos
      • Events
      • Field Crops IPM Shorts
    • Other Crops
      • Citrus
      • Tree and Nut Crops
      • Cross Commodity
    • Agricultural Pesticide Safety
    • Agricultural IPM Outputs
      • Presentations
      • Publications
      • Agricultural IPM Shorts
    • Events
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • IPM Assessment
    • IPM Assessment Home
    • Crop Pest Losses
      • Cotton Pest Losses
      • Vegetable Pest Losses
    • Impacts
    • EPA Pesticide Registration Reviews
    • How To Submit Comments to EPA
    • Previously Submitted EPA Comments
    • Projects
      • Crop Pest Losses
    • IPM Assessment Outputs
      • Presentations
      • Publications
      • Shorts
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Community IPM
    • Community IPM Home
    • School IPM
      • Stop School Pests
      • IPM for Sensitive Sites in the Built Environment
    • Public Health IPM
      • Arizona Conenose Bugs
      • Bed Bugs
      • Bees
      • Body Lice
      • False Chinch Bugs
      • Fire Ants
      • Head Lice
      • Longhorned Tick
      • Mosquitoes
      • Scorpions
      • EPA Border 2020
    • Turfgrass
      • Pre-emergence Weed Control - Lawns
      • History of the Lawn and Turfgrass
      • Nitrogen and Iron Deficiencies
      • Publications and Resources
    • Community Pesticide Safety
      • Presentations
      • Publications
    • Community Insect Gallery
    • Handbook on Pests
    • Home and School IPM Newsletters
    • Community IPM Resources
    • Events
      • 2021 Emergency Preparedness Workshop
      • 2022 Emergency Preparedness Workshop
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Pesticide Education and Training
    • Pesticide Education and Training Home
    • Ag Licensing Resources
    • Community Licensing Resources
    • Special Pesticide Registrations
    • Pesticide Safety Outputs
      • Presentations
      • Publications
      • Pesticide Safety Shorts
    • Events
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • About Us
    • Partners and Links
    • Contact Us
    • Organizational Chart
    • Arizona Pest Management Center
    • Mission
    • Working Groups
    • Organization
    • Social Media
  1. Community IPM
  2. Public Health IPM
  3. Bees
Bees

Stephen L. Buchmann, Stacey Bealmear, Scott Prajzner, Vicki Wojcik

WildHoneyBeesCommunity
Section Shortcuts
Identification
Leafcutter and Mason Bees
Bumble Bees
Honey Bees
Sweat Bees
Mining Bees
Long-horned Bees
Squash Bees
Carpenter Bees
Yellow-faced or Masked Bees
Cuckoo Bees
Publications
Identification
Bees, like other Hymenoptera, have three body segments; a head, thorax, and abdomen. The head has the compound and simple eyes, segmented paired antennae, and mouthparts including mandibles for biting, and the proboscis for drinking nectar. The thorax bears the legs and four wings (two forewings and two hind-wings coupled by tiny hooks). The abdomen contains digestive organs and the sting in females.
Bees
Female bees have special pollen-carrying hairs (scopa) usually on the legs, or in the case of leafcutters, under the abdomen. Honey bees and bumble bees carry pollen packed tightly into a ball on pollen baskets (corbiculae), concave areas on their hind legs.

Back to Top

Leafcutter and Mason bees
Bees_1
Bees_2
Family: Megachilidae. Head as broad as thorax; large mandibles; black body with pale bands on abdomen (metallic green or blue for Osmia); scopa under abdomen; 7 - 20 mm. Solitary, nest in beetle holes or wood nesting blocks, some in soil. Female Megachile cut circular pieces from leaf margins to form larval cells. Other species collect mud (Osmia) or resin as nesting materials.

Back to Top

Bumble bees
Bees_3
Bees_4

Family: Apidae. Robust, hairy colorful bees; black body covered with black, yellow, orange or whitish hair bands; pollen baskets on hind legs; 10 – 28 mm.

Bumble Bees live in social colonies; nesting underground, under boards or rodent burrows. They buzz pollinate flowers like tomatoes, which have pored anthers.


Back to Top

Honey bees
Family: Apidae. Triangular - shaped head; black eyes and dark legs, golden brown hairs; orange abdomen with black stripes; concave areas, pollen baskets on hind legs; 15 - 19 mm.
Bees_5
Large social colonies, 30,000 or more; live in manmade hives, tree hollows or rock outcrops. If you use a hand lens and look closely, honey bees actually have hairy eyes.

Back to Top

Sweat bees
Bees_6
Bees_7
Family: Halictidae. Diverse group including small brown or black bees with abdominal bands to vividly colorful metallic green and yellow. Pollencarrying hairs on hind legs; 3 - 12 mm. Parasitic forms often have red abdomens and lack pollen carrying hairs. Solitary, communal and semisocial soil nesters; some are attracted to salt in your sweat.

Back to Top

Mining bees
Bees_8
Bees_9
Family: Andrenidae. Black or dull metallic body often with brown or reddish hairs; usually elongate; scopa on upper regions of legs; 6 - 15 mm. Perdita diverse genus, bright yellow, black and whitish bees; 2 - 7 mm. Solitary or communal (some Macrotera spp.), nest in sand soils. Females have depressions (fovea) along their eyes that glisten due to short velvety hairs.

Back to Top

Long-horned bees
Bees_10
Bees_11
Family: Apidae. Usually robust and very hairy, dark body often with pale hair bands on abdomen; dense scopa on hind legs; males have very long antennae, as long as body; 7 – 20 mm. Solitary to communal ground nesting bees. Some genera and species are especially attracted to asters, sunflowers and mallows

Back to Top

Squash bees
Bees_12
Bees_13
Family: Apidae. Honey bee-sized (Peponapis) brownish bees with light spot on face; often long sharp mandibles; males with long antennae. They specialize on pollen and nectar of wild gourds and cultivated pumpkins; 14 - 18 mm. Solitary; ground-nesting often in pumpkin fields. Coarse dense scopa on hind legs.

Back to Top

Carpenter bees
Bees_14
Bees_15
Family: Apidae. Shiny dark black bees (golden green-eyed males in one species); sparse hairs on abdomen; robust with massive jaws; scopa on hind legs; 20 - 28 mm. Solitary to communal nest in dead tree trunks, Agave, Yucca and Sotol stalks. Other than bumble bee queens, the largest bees in AZ.

Back to Top

Yellow-faced or masked bees
Bees_16
Bees_17
Family: Colletidae. Slender; almost hairless black bees with scattered yellow markings. Bright facial stripes; no scopa as they carry pollen internally in the crop, sometimes called the honey stomach; 5 - 7 mm. Other bees in this family (Colletes spp.) are larger, fuzzy gray with distinctive heartshaped heads. Solitary bees; nesting in dead twigs and stems and beetle burrows.

Back to Top

Cuckoo bees
Bees_18
Bees_19
Family: Apidae. Slender and wasp-like; often with few hairs (will be branched hairs); red or black or yellow body, banded abdomens; Triepeolus is black and white with red legs; relatively thick antennae; no scopa; 5 - 18 mm. Males and females visit flowers for nectar but do not collect pollen. Females are cleptoparasites of other bees, laying their eggs in another bee’s nest. At least 10% of all Arizona bees are parasitic.

Back to Top

Bee Publications

Back to Top

APMC Logo BW Inverted
CALS Logo Black and white Inverted
ARIZONA PEST MANAGEMENT CENTER
University of Arizona
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Maricopa Agricultural Center

37860 W. Smith-Enke Road
Maricopa, AZ 85239
FULL CONTACT
LIST
facebook
twitter


© Arizona Board of Regents

University Privacy Statement