Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Sphecodes - Blood Bees

Batch O' Bee #1 - The Cutie - Sphecodes - female sweat bee - Sphecodes aroniae bee - Sphecodes davisii Sphecodes confertus? - Sphecodes Bee - Sphecodes Sphecodes - female Bee with red abdomen on Sisymbrium loeselii - Sphecodes - male On Peony - Sphecodes
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies)
No Taxon (Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps)
No Taxon (Apoidea (clade Anthophila) - Bees)
Family Halictidae (Sweat, Furrow, Nomiine, and Short-faced Bees)
Subfamily Halictinae (Sweat and Furrow Bees)
Tribe Halictini
Genus Sphecodes (Blood Bees)
Pronunciation
sfeck-OH-deez
Explanation of Names
Sphecodes Latreille 1804
Numbers
72 spp. in our area, ~350 total(1)
Identification
Females(2):
head and thorax often black, with the abdomen red
no pollen-collecting hairs
body very coarsely sculptured
Range
worldwide (map)(1)
Remarks
Cleptoparasites, usually of other Halictinae(3)
Internet References
Works Cited
1.Ascher J.S., Pickering J. (2017) Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila)
2.Bees of the eastern United States
Mitchell T.B. 1962. Tech. Bull. (NC Agric. Exp. Sta.): No. 141 (538 pp.), 1960; and No. 152 (557 pp.).
3.The Bees of the World, 2nd edition
Charles D. Michener. 2007. The Johns Hopkins University Press.