This bee and another like it occupied the inside of a female zucchini blossom (attached to the developing fruit) for a very long time today. I'd say it was hours if I could be sure the same two bees were in there at 3:30 p.m. as at noon. At least, they stayed inside the flower for several minutes during the second observation. At noon, the flower was wide open. By 3:30, it had begun to close.

These bees looked much like A. mellifera, but a few things didn't seem quite right. Their abdomens weren't very hairy; despite their long stay in a flower, they didn't have pollen loads on their legs; and A. mellifera doesn't typically spend so much time at one flower.

Are these regular honeybees or something else? If they're regular honeybees, is there something seductive about zucchini that makes it hard for them to leave?