#plasterer bee

Chilean plasterer bee, Caupolicana fulvicollis, Colletidae

A female, about to bubble nectar to reduce the water content.

A male, who had been investigating resin on Corymbia trunks, and small holes on a fallen log. He was probably doing the latter to find any females nesting in the holes, since these solitary bees nest in old beetle holes in wood, when they're not working hard at collecting nectar and pollen from Corymbia and other local eucalypts.

On the other hand, they've also been found mass nesting in polystrene insulation blocks. Kit Prendergast, expert on our local bees, found that the bees actually prefered the plastic to specially made wooden bee hotels.

The species is found from the Perth area south to Kojonup.

Hairy Yellow-face Bee

Unequal Cellophane Bee - Colletes inaequalis - mating pair

To all fellow insect enthusiasts, this one is for you: Happy 500th post to this blog! What a year 2021 has been! Many new species joined the catalogue, follower count is slowly climbing and the insects are amazing all around. Here’s to another 500 posts for an even thousand, and many more after that! To all who read my biweekly posts, share them, all my followers, and all those who offer their support to me and this blog, I give my sincere appreciation. Doing this just wouldn’t be worthwhile without you all. Thank you! And to show my appreciation, there’s only one thing that can be done: show off a mating frenzy! Well, it’s not exactly that, but now that I have your attention, we can take a peek into the life of an overlooked but very important variety of Bee. Namely, a member of the Polyester Bee family: Colletidae. These individuals have just emerged from a long winter’s sleep and they need to immediately get to work! In a mad dash and in sudden response to the thawing of the ground and (gradual) return of spring, these Bees climb out of the earth and begin the search for a mate. 

As you can see here, competition is fierce, with many Bees piling on top of each other for the chance to mate, and these are solitary Bees rather than social ones, making the need even more dire. Looking back on these pictures, it’s a little bit funny seeing 3-4 Bees in a pile, but it just goes to show how serious the males are with respect to passing on their genes. After the process is successful, the males fly away to find whatever flowers and resources they can to enjoy for themselves until they fly no longer. Meanwhile the fertilized female Bees get to work looking for suitable nesting sites in the ground (typically between March-July, depending on emergence). Using her might, the solitary females dig a foot deep hole, coat it in a special substance (their polyester coating) provision it with gathered nectar and pollen and place an egg inside. The burrow is then sealed off with more of her polyester and then it’s onto the next burrow! This is a level of diligence that I almost can’t even believe. It’s not too far away from the methodologies of Potter Wasps, but those can’t seal off their eggs using naturally occurring, biodegradable, waterproof polyester! All this while helping along the pollination of early spring flowers. Just incredible...wow!

Cellophane Bees  (Colletes inaequalis)

Southeastern Pennsylvania

April 3, 2019