This bee has some variations, for instance, Xylocopa violacea is the violet carpenter bee and Xylocopa aerate is the green carpenter bee. Xylocopa caerulea is known as the blue carpenter bee.Amegilla cingulate is commonly known as the blue-banded bee.Osmia calaminthaeis commonly known as the blue calamintha bee or simply the calamintha bee.Osmia lignaria is commonly known as the blue orchard bee, blue orchard mason bee, or simply the orchard mason bee.Here are some species of bees that are blue: Not only is there a blue bee, there are actually several species of blue bees! Though the amount of blue in each bee varies. Here are some interesting facts and frequently asked questions about blue bees. So, naturally, they are worth learning more about. I am certain if she had, she would have written a poem in homage to them. After all, bees are famously yellow and black, right? In fact, naturalist poet Emily Dickinson paid homage to their golden yellow rings in her popular poem that begins, “Bees are Black, with Gilt Surcingles, Buccaneers of Buzz…” (I know because I memorized this poem in fifth grade!)īut it’s very possible that in her day, living in New England, Emily never came across a blue bee. This species likely occurs on many other NCC properties, but has yet to be documented.Has anyone ever said to you, “You’ve got to see this blue bee!” If I had never seen one before, I would have thought they were made up. NCC owns and protects the Cowichan Garry Oak Preserve, a property with savannah habitat where dozens of native bee species, possibly including the blue orchard mason bee, live. What is NCC doing to protect this species? Numbers may have increased in some places because of increasing numbers of orchards. NatureServe has ranked this important pollinator species as globally common, widespread and abundant.
Overall threats to this species are low however, in some areas, pesticide use and habitat loss threaten the blue orchard bee. Finally, in the event of nest predation, this ensures that males, which are less reproductively valuable than females, are eaten first. Also, males have to hatch first so that they have time to mature and await new females throughout the mating season. For one, males take less time to develop than females. This likely takes place for a few reasons. Interestingly, female larvae hatch from the eggs laid farthest away from the entrance, while males hatch from the ones nearest the entrance. Then she seals off the entrance to the hole with mud. She repeats this process for the remaining six to 11 eggs she lays until she has created a separate cell for each egg in the same hole. Once a female has deposited enough pollen and nectar into the hole, she lays an egg in the hole and seals it with mud. Despite this, individuals will nest near each other, resulting in decreased predation pressures, more mating opportunities and increased genetic variation through cross-breeding.įemales use holes found in wood, hoses or pipes as nests for laying eggs. How does it reproduce?Īs a solitary species, each blue orchard bee looks after its own brood rather than living in a colony made up of worker bees and a queen. Females form a mixture of pollen and nectar that they bring back to their nests into balls with the aid of their own saliva, which the larvae eat. They pack pollen beneath rows of scopa, which are stiff hairs below the abdomen.
This native species is highly valued for its pollination of fruit crops, including cherry, pear, apple, blueberry and almond. Like many other bee species, blue orchard bees feed on nectar and pollen from flowers, collecting nectar in their honey sacs from many plants. The blue orchard bee occurs in woodlands and forest edges across North America, ranging in the east from Nova Scotia to Georgia, Michigan and Texas, and in the west from southern British Columbia to southern California.
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