#oligolectic

Calliopsis.  

Another of the many kinds of small bees that run the world.  

This is one was collected in Arizona by Tim McMahon or Don Harvey in fabulous Cochise County.  There are a butt load of Calliopsis species in the SW  so am not sure which one they caught but they have very narrow plant predilections...each species often specializing only one small group of plants. 

So, as we dumb down the world, exchanging regional plant complexity for weedy uniformity, things like Calliopsis and other bees and other insects and other bacteria and other fungi and other life forms .....disappear.  

If you own land, then it is, of course your choice what happens.   

No pressure.  

Picture by Sydney Price.  

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Download our free field guide to the genera of bees:http://bio2.elmira.edu/fieldbio/beesofmarylandbookversion1.pdf