Contents A Field Guide to Common Puget Sound Native Bees: Southern Region Introduction 3 How to Use Guide 3 Making Observations 4 Classification 5 Recording Data 6 Parts of the Bee 8 Section I: Color Plates 10 Section II: Group Descriptions 22 Group Index 34 Data Sheet 36 Contributors 38 Acknowledgements 38 The Author 39 Author Elias H. Bloom, Washington State University [email protected] Level: Beginner 1 2 Introduction Making Observations This field guide is intended to be a tool When: for the identification and monitoring of The best time to make observations of floral visitors, in particular, native bees in bees is at temperatures greater than 70° the urban gardens and farms of the Puget Fahrenheit, and wind speeds less than 5 Sound Region. The relatively compact mph. Bees will be harder to observe in size of the guide was purposeful in that windy conditions, and may not visit flow- we hope you take this guide with you into ers when temperatures are too cool. the garden when you are working, or on Where: trips around the region. Before getting For the purpose of data collection, we ask started with the pictures and identifica- that you only make observations of bees tion, lets go over some basics about this or other flower visitors on flowers in a field guide, and the proper way to assess garden. You may also see bees on leaves bees. or on the ground. These bees may be rest- How to Use the Guide ing, or looking for a place to nest. Bees and other floral visitors are notori- How: ously difficult to identify in the field. De- Bees and other floral visitors are easily tails on how best to observe floral visitors disturbed. Avoid sudden movements, can be found at the front of the guide, loud noises, or casting your shadow over while pictures and habitat information are them. Observe bees first, then less mobile sandwiched in the middle. The final sec- flower visitors like beetles and bugs. Flies tion includes a data sheet and details for will often come back if disturbed, but oth- tracking your observations over time. er insects may not. Please, read each section carefully. 3 4 Classification Recording Data To simplify classification, we’ve created Data sheets are at the back of the guide. 5 groups of bees and 6 groups of floral We recommend photocopying the data visitors. Use these groups for your obser- sheets and replenishing these as you need vations and notes. Example images of more. Before starting your observations, each group can be found in Section I. On- take note of the date, time, and location. ly classify floral visitors to the level at Step 1: which you are most confident. Pick a spot in a garden where you can Groups of Bees: clearly see a plant and it’s flowers. Sit or Honey bees (HB) stand stationary near this plant and record any floral visitors you may see. If you ob- Bumble bees (BB) serve the same plant or plants multiple Other large bees (OLB) times over a year, or over many years, Green bees (GB) this will give us the best information Small bees (SB) about what types of floral visitors are im- Groups of Other Floral Visitors: portant for those plant groups. Butterflies (BTF) Step 2: Wasps (W) If the floral visitor is a bee, and you can Bugs (BG) confidently classify it, then note the bee Flies (F) group. Make sure to use the pictures, Beetles (BTL) habitat information, sizing guide, and Spiders (S) other details in Section II, to substantiate your observations. 5 6 Step 3: Parts of the Bee Insects are generally broken down into If possible, photograph the floral visitor three segments, the head, thorax, and ab- and plant. If your camera has a macro domen. The head is home to sensory ap- mode, use that setting. Otherwise, try to pendages including the eyes and anten- take pictures that are in focus. Bees will nae. The mouth of the insect is located on fly away if you get too close, so experi- the head too. Almost all insects are bilat- ment with the distance that is appropriate. erally symmetrical, meaning they have Every bee is a little different! When pho- the same appendages on both sides of the tographing the plant, take a picture of the body. Bees have two sets of wings, a flower, leaf, and where the leaf attaches to the stem. Pictures are not necessary, Abdomen but they help us to verify your observa- pygidial area tions. Step 4: Add additional notes about the site, plant, terga hind wing and floral visitor. Your notes are very ocelli helpful in the monitoring process and will compound eye allow you to build a more complete data antenna middle leg set. clypeus Step 5: fore wing Submit your observations, images, and hind leg notes about your garden to our website, and track your pollinators over time! 7 8 hind wing and fore wing, and three pairs Section I: Color Plates In this guide, each bee group represents of legs. The legs and wings are attached many different species. The only excep- to the thorax which is the center of loco- tion to this is the honey bee. We’ve in- motion of insects. Bees may or may not cluded some of the most common bees have legs that are modified for carrying for each group that you may see in this pollen. In honey bees, this is called the region. There are at least 20 different gen- corbicula, or pollen basket. Additional era of bees in the South Puget Sound, and markings or groups of hairs are often likely dozens of species. These plates are found on the abdomen of the insect. not intended to be a taxonomic identifica- Many bees carry pollen on the underside tion guide, but rather a means to familiar- of the abdomen instead of on the leg. Abdomen ize yourself with the native bees of our region. Common names are given, and Thorax Latin names are included to Genus or Species. Head Key Characteristics: Some images have arrows which point to key characteristics. Those characteristics are described below the picture. Additional Information: fore leg For additional information on each group, see the group description pages. 9 10 Honey bees (HB) Bumble bees cont. (BB) Common Name: honey bee Common Name: yellow bumble bee Family: Apidae Family: Apidae Genus: Apis Genus: Bombus Species: Apis mellifera Species: Bombus fervidus Key Characteristic: flattened hind leg Key Characteristic: yellow body, single black band between wings Group Description: p. 24 Group Description: p. 26 Bumble bees (BB) Common Name: yellow-faced bumble Common Name: tricolored bumble bee bee Family: Apidae Family: Apidae Genus: Bombus Genus: Bombus Species: Bombus mixtus Species: Bombus vosnesenskii Key Characteristic: three distinct colors, Key Characteristic: yellow face, most- orange rear end ly black body Group Description: p. 26 Group Description: p. 26 11 12 Other large bees (OLB) Other large bees cont. (OLB) Common Name: long-horned bee Common Name: sand/mining bee Family: Apidae Family: Andrenidae Genus: Melissodes Genus: Andrena Key Characteristic: very hairy hind leg Key Characteristic: non-descript black abdomen, sometime with lighter thorax Group Description: p. 28 Group Description: p. 28 Common Name: digger bee Common Name: mason/leaf-cutter bee Family: Apidae Family: Megachilidae Genus: Habropoda Genus: Osmia Key Characteristic: long antenna are Key Characteristic: blue shiny body, common hair on bottom of abdomen Group Description: p. 28 Group Description: p. 28 13 14 Other large bees cont. (OLB) Green bees cont. (GB) Common Name: mason/leaf-cutter bee Common Name: sweat bee Family: Megachilidae Family: Halictidae Genus: Anthidium Genus: Lasioglossum Key Characteristic: thick hair on bottom Key Characteristic: bright blue/green of abdomen body Group Description: p. 28 Group Description: p. 30 Small bees (SB) Green bees (GB) Common Name: masked bee Common Name: sweat bee Family: Colletidae Family: Halictidae Genus: Hylaeus Genus: Agapostemon Key Characteristic: yellow markings on Key Characteristic: green to black head face and thorax, green to black stripped abdo- men Group Description: p. 32 Group Description: p. 30 15 16 Small bees cont. (SB) Small bees cont. (SB) Common Name: sweat bee Common Name: sand/mining bee Family: Halictidae Family: Andrenidae Genus: Halictus Genus: Panurginus Key Characteristic: hairy hind legs and Key Characteristic: non-descript black stripped abdomen body Group Description: p. 32 Group Description: p. 32 Common Name: cuckoo sweat bee Family: Halictidae Common Name: small carpenter bee Genus: Sphecodes Family: Apidae Key Characteristic: red abdomen, black Genus: Ceratina head and thorax Key Characteristic: protrusion at end of Group Description: p. 32 abdomen Group Description: p. 32 17 18 Butterflies (BTF) Flies (F) Common Name: hover flies Common Name: skipper butterfly Family: Syrphidae Family: Hesperiidae Key Characteristics: one set of wings, Key Characteristics: clubbed antennae, very large eyes scale covered wings Bugs (BG) Wasps (W) Common Name: common wasp Common Name: stink bugs Family: Vespidae Family: Pentatomidae Genus: Vespula Key Characteristics: triangular area be- Species: Vespula vulgaris tween leathery wings Key Characteristic: obvious pinched abdomen, aggressive looking 19 20 Beetles (BTL) Section II: Group Descriptions Sizing and Shape Guide: Size and shape are often useful tools to identify bees. Each group description includes an sizing guide for your reference. Sizes: Large Medium Common name: chafer beetle Family: Scarabidae Small Key Characteristics: hardened front Shapes: wings, distinct mouthparts Narrow Spiders (S) Robust Round Seasonality and Range Maps: In addition to size, all bees have a unique geographic distribution that changes over the course of the season. Us- Common Name: crab spider ing previously Family: Thomisidae collected data, Key Characteristics: four pairs of legs we were able to prepare a bar chart for each group, and generate a series 21 22 of maps that show the abundance of each Honey bees (HB) bee group over the course of any given Group Description: Honey bees are me- season.