Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoidea (clade Anthophila) - Bees » Leafcutter, Mason, and Resin Bees, and allies (Megachilidae) » Leafcutter, Resin, Mortar, Sharptail, Mason, and Woolcarder bees and relatives (Megachilinae) » Leafcutter, Resin, Mortar, and Sharptail bees (Megachilini) » Leafcutter and Resin Bees (Megachile) » Subgenus Callomegachile, Giant Resin Bees (Megachile Subgenus Callomegachile, Giant Resin Bees) » Sculptured Resin Bee (Megachile sculpturalis) Photo#1633866 | | | Copyright © 2019 © Stephen Coan, all rights reserved | |
Megachile sculpturalis larvae in harvested mason bee shelter trays. - Megachile sculpturalis Collingswood, NJ, Camden County, New Jersey, USA December 16, 2015 Size: under 1"
The Megachile sculpturalis first spotted on 8/4/15 made use of my Mason bee shelters - Osmia lignaria - but appeared to not bother with the existing mason bee larvae cocoons when I harvested the shelters on 12/16/15. All of the larvae were destroyed as per Sam Droege of USGS. They were very docile being solitary allowing me to get within inches for the photos. When I harvested the mason bees and opened up the shelter trays the resin bee larvae were in multiple locations but only made use of the shelters that were in the sun. Some were in their own tubes and others were in front of the mason bee cocoons but did not appear to damage or prey on any of the mason bee cocoons. I found it interesting that the resin bees used flower petals, probably Geranium 'Rozanne' to fill in some of the larvae separating walls and block some of the tubes. The separating walls were mostly made of resin and very hard. They also used wood chips to fill in some of the tubes. Most of the tubes were capped with a resin/wood/soil mix. When I opened up the trays the encasing resin cocoons were torn open - most likely due to their sticking to the wooden trays, while some remained intact. They only seemed to use the wooden trays and not the Phragmite tubes or the cardboard tubes that I also use in the Mason Bee shelters.
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