Leaf Cutting Bee (aka Leaf Cutter Bee)
Sunday, April 4th, 2010Next on our list of local pollinating bees is the Leaf Cutting Bee (aka Leaf Cutter Bee).
Leafcutter bees are black with white or silvery hairs. Instead of carrying pollen on its legs, the leafcutting bee carries it in hairs on its underside. The males have hairier faces than the females. The alfalfa leaf cutting bee is used in pollinating alfalfa crops in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana.
You’ve probably noticed this bee’s lovely perfectly circular holes (along with parts of circles) cut out of rose leaves and petals and other green leaves in the garden. Leafcutter bees wrap these plant parts up into a cigar shaped packet containing pollen and one egg that soon turns into a larva to pupate within this nutritious capsule. The packets are tucked here and there throughout our gardens in small holes left behind by other small creatures. Sometimes you may even find a leafcutter nesting packet tucked into the soil in a containerized planting. Leafcutter bees will also nest in hollow trees, hollow plant stems, bird nests and holes in wood.
Each packet is constructed of about 15 pieces. The female leafcutter bee can produce about 40 offspring but the number can be as low as 12 to 16. Nests are constructed in the spring, the leafcutter bee from that season dies and the next generations emerge from the packets the following spring. Some years more than one generation is possible.
For a photo and information on leaf cutter bees visit:
http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/bees/leafcutting_bee/
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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