two-banded cellophane-cuckoo bee

not listed

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

not listed

Two-banded cellophane-cuckoo bee is a moderate-sized, kleptoparasitic, cuckoo bee. It occurs in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, in southern Quebec and Ontario Canada, and in Mexico. It is a nest parasite of a cellophane bee, probably broad-footed cellophane bee. Adults are found from June to September in meadows and at forest edges.

Adults are ¼″ to ⅜″ (7 to 9 mm) in length and wasp-like in appearance. The body is robust and mostly black with reddish and reddish-orange areas and yellow markings.

The head and face are black. The cheeks are very narrow. On the female there is a patch of silvery or yellow hairs circling the outer half of the base of each antenna. On females the antennae have 13 segments, including a long basal segment (scape), a short second segment (pedicel), and a whip-like section (flagellum) with 11 segments (flagellomeres). On each antenna, the scape, pedicel, and first flagellomere are reddish-orange, the rest of the antenna is black. On males the antennae have just 12 segments. The tongue is long and slender. On the male there is a rounded, bump-like protrusion near the upper front margin of each compound eye. It has a fine-grained (granulose) texture.

The thorax is black. The front plate (pronotum) is short, collar-like, reddish-orange, and covered with short, bright yellow hairs that form an uninterrupted band. There is a rounded lobe on each side that does not reach the plate covering the wing base (tegula). The large second plate (scutum), covering most of the thorax, is entirely black with no white lines or other markings. The third plate (scutellum) is crescent-shaped, reddish, and has a spine at each side. The rear plate (metanotum) is covered with short, pale yellow hairs forming a band that is narrowly interrupted in the middle. On the side of the thorax, the large front plate (mesopleuron) is shiny and has sparse small punctures on the lower half, and numerous large punctures on the upper half.

The abdomen is black and short. The first segment has a broad band of yellow hairs that narrow toward the middle and is narrowly interrupted in the middle. Below this there is usually a thin band of yellow hairs. The second segment has a narrower, uninterrupted band of yellow hairs at the rear margin.

The wings are dark. The forewing has three submarginal cells. The lobe at the base of the hindwing (jugal lobe) is shorter than the submedian cell. The tegulae are reddish-orange.

The legs are mostly reddish-orange. On the hind leg the third segment (femur) is reddish-orange on the upper side, black on the underside.

¼″ to ⅜″ (7 to 9 mm)

Meadows, forest edges

June to September

The female lays an egg in the nest of a cellophane bee, probably broad-footed cellophane bee (Colletes latitarsis).

When the egg hatches, the larva eats the egg of the host bee, then eats the pollen provisioned for that egg.

Flower nectar

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Uncommon

See https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/132475409

Location: South Minneapolis, Howe Neighborhood

See https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/132475409