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Photo#7600
Little bee - Megachile petulans - female

Little bee - Megachile petulans - Female
Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida, USA
September 16, 2004
Is this a leaf-cutting bee? This is the closest thing I could find in the guide. On Bidens.


Moved

Megachile sp.
Pretty nice image of a female Megachile sp. If it is pretty small (I have no idea how large the flower is), then it might be M. rotundata, the alfalfa leafcutter bee, introduced from Europe to pollinate that crop. We could use that species in the field guide I'm writing.

 
not rotundata
looks like petulans

note gray hairs on T6

Megachilidae?
The furry ventral part of the abdomen suggests a Megachilidae or leaf cutting bee. I don't know the species, though. See: leaf cutting bee.
Nice shot.

Common in Durham NC past 2 weeks--Leaf cutter
I've been seeing similar bees these the past couple of weeks--I've no idea what they are. The very pointy abdomen is distinctive, on some, apparently.

I was thinking it was the very pointy-abdomened Coelioxys:

but no, that genus lacks the abdominal pollen-brushes, which yours has. I have been seeing that genus here in Durham recently. Similar genera inlcude Colletes, illustrated in Lutz (1). Insects of Cedar Creek illustrates several.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

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