Orange-vented mason bee

Appearance

They are 8 to 10 millimetres long. Their hairs are longer and whitish, except for the bright orange-red pollen brush on the underside, the head shield and the back. The legs have short hairs, the abdomen sometimes has a metallic blue or green sheen, and males have green eyes.

Special features

These solitary bees are widespread but rare. They are oligolectic: pollen specialists that keep to a single plant genus or family. They pollinate the flowers described further down this page. In Central Europe the species flies from May to August. Food must not be too far from the nests, so within a foraging radius of 1 km at most. Nest choice: existing tunnels in dry wood and in hollow plant stems. They use chewed leaves as a plant mortar to build their brood cells.

Did you know?

The Orange-vented mason bee hosts cuckoo bees: the black-winged dark bee Stelis phaeoptera and the spotted dark bee Stelis punctulatissima, both threatened and rare. The best way to help cuckoo bees is to support their host bees and their habitat. Cuckoo bees are brood parasites in the nests of pollen-collecting bees. Other parasites include the five-spotted club-horned wasp Sapyga quinquepunctata and the common club-horned wasp, Sapyga clavicornis.