Silky-Striped Sweat Bee - Agapostemon sericeusAs promised on Tuesday when the Bicolored Sweat B
Silky-Striped Sweat Bee - Agapostemon sericeusAs promised on Tuesday when the Bicolored Sweat Bee was showcased, today’s post features a close relative within the same genus! With iridescent green colors across the body, it is unmistakably another foraging Sweat Bee looking for pollen and nectar among the oregano flowers. Compared to Tuesday’s insect, this one is uniformly green across the body with all dark-colored legs (and hindmost of which are covered with lustrous gold hairs). While faintly seen in between the abdomen’s segments, little white bands are present too, which is an important observation to look for when determining which Sweat Bees call your garden home. Both males and females can sport this emerald shell, while the female bicolored Bees look very close in terms of resemblance, though their legs make sure that they’re easy to tell apart. According to Bugguide (click here to see the gist for yourself) 4 species of Agapostemon Bees call Ontario home, each with their own differences to observe. I’m ultimately going with the Silky Bee, but that identification has a little competition with the Brown-Winged Sweat Bee (A. splendens) and here’s why.A. splendens was considered due to the similarities it shares with A. sericeus. Looking at the base of the wings however, there is no trace of brown or orange color to be seen nor the red markings on the jaws. Furthermore, the wings (though dark) seem to be translucent, making the silky Bee the best fit here. I could be wrong; lighting in a picture could mean the difference between two very similar Bees. And its not as if the Bee will flash its bands at me. Better to fly away and escape than attack a large photographer. These really are skittish Bees, but if you can photograph and observe them, they are worth the effort. And if one is attracted to your sweat, that’s hard work paying off. While now it’s clear what to look for in Ontario’s Sweat Bees (which will be helpful for the future) things become much more delicate when only looking at pictures without the live insect to help you, I may say this in so many words across many posts, but there’s a system and an art to successfully identifying the insects around you. And it is beautiful once mastered! Best of luck during your summer if you plan to go searching for these lucky and industrious ground Bees!Pictures were taken on July 21, 2020 with a Google Pixel 4. -- source link
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