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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Bees, Ants, and other Stinging Wasps » Anthophila (Apoidea) - Bees » Cuckoo, Carpenter, Digger, Bumble, and Honey Bees (Apidae) » Honey, Bumble, and Digger Bees (Apinae) » Melectini » Xeromelecta » Xeromelecta californica
Photo#22346
Another Cuckoo Bee - Xeromelecta californica
Copyright © 2003 Hartmut Wisch

Another Cuckoo Bee - Xeromelecta californica
Angeles Crest, ~7000 ft., San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County, California, USA
September 10, 2003
Cuckoo Bee in Chrysothamnus nauseosus (Rubber Rabbitbrush)
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Contributed by Hartmut Wisch on 28 June, 2005 - 10:48pm
Last updated 4 November, 2005 - 12:57pm

Xeromelecta californica
actually, that's probably soil on the mid leg, from the last nest raid she did
… Doug Yanega, 3 November, 2005 - 12:19pm login or register to post comments

 
Thanks, Doug
for clearing this up! I'm learning!
… Hartmut Wisch, 3 November, 2005 - 5:43pm login or register to post comments

Scopa?
What is that on the mid leg? A scopa full of pollen? What an unusual place it would be! Besides, parasitic bees aren't supposed to have scopas.
… Beatriz Moisset, 29 June, 2005 - 7:13am login or register to post comments

 
scopa
Good point, Beatriz, and I'm glad you pointed this out. I hadn't even been thinking about it.

Take a look at the two images #22269, 22336; both images of the same individual. The pollen brush on the middle leg is clearly visible through the wing, certainly in #22336.
Eric thought this to be a cuckoo bee, tribe Epeolini, so I moved it to the Nomadinae page, but perhaps I was too hasty.
My original thought was Andrenid, doesn't look like a cuckoo bee to me, but I've been surprised before.

The photo before us seems to be of the same genus, also with the same pollen-gathering apparatus. If not cuckoo (just thought of the image cuckooing onto the Nomadinae page), what might it be?

I hope a hymenopterist will ID it. Meanwhile, I see if I can find anything relevant.
… Hartmut Wisch, 29 June, 2005 - 3:06pm login or register to post comments

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