longhorn bees

Melissodes bees usually nest alone in the ground in sand or sandy loam soil. Adults are active during the day. Females spend the night in their nest. Males often congregate on groups of 10 to 20 at the end of the day. They grasp a plant with their mandibles and hang, unmoving, until morning. They are easy to photograph in the late afternoon.

Melissodes are hairy, moderately large bees, as large to one-and-a-half times larger than a western honey bee.

The body is robust and nearly all black. The thorax and abdomen are densely covered with relatively long and more or less erect hairs. On the male there is a pair of robust spines at the base of the seventh abdominal segment.

The plate on the face (clypeus) is not lobed, and each lateral margin touches the adjacent compound eye. The clypeus is black on females, yellow or partly yellow on males. Males have very long antennae, much longer than females. On both sexes, the first antennal segment beyond the scape and pedicel (first flagellomere) is much shorter than the second.

There are three submarginal cells on the forewing. The second cell is usually shorter than first cell and is always shorter than the third cell. The third cell is much longer than wide.

Sources

24, 27, 29, 30, 82.

This genus has no common name. The common name of the tribe Eucerini is longhorn bees, and it is applied here for convenience.

Found this guy sleeping early in the morning.

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota