Solitary bees, like sweat bees, are important pollinators that overlook in the small but significant minority in the bee world. You are most likely to see them in the garden feeding on blossoms of dill, coriander, yarrow, cosmos, and a variety of other flowers. They visit a variety of flowers, including those of the most common garden flowers and herbs. While the origin of sweat bees is not entirely nail-down-secure, their work in the pollination game is. They arrived in the mid-1800s to pollinate crops, specifically tomatoes and cranberries. Like bumble bees, there are social sweat bees that live in colonies and solitary females that live alone and do not form colonies.įrom in-depth studies and DNA analysis, it is known that the sweat bee species that inhabit the United States are most closely related to the European bees. But the lesser-known work of these tiny insects is all about pollination. Sweat bees are named for their habit of delicately sipping sweat from human skin. Sweat bees are attracted to rotten persimmons, and feeding on sap from over ripe fruits can be observed in late summer. When they are, they are usually mistaken for yellow jackets or large bumblebees. Sweat bees are rarely noticed flying around homes or yards. The only real way to know if you have bees in your home is to find them. Yellow and orange sweat bees have no scutellum. Females can deliver painful stings but are not considered dangerous.īrown and black sweat bees have pairs of spines on the first abdominal segment, called the scutellum. They have modified mouth parts which are used to pierce plant materials to suck out fluids. Sweat bees can nest in/around homes but are not considered pests.įemale sweat bees can sting. These are nesting bees and are found in wall voids, insulation, lofts, etc. Yellow and orange sweat bees are commonly found in running sap of trees but also frequent flowers.īrown and black sweat bees are encountered less frequently. They can be small to medium in size depending on the species. Sweat bees can be yellow, orange, brown and black. Q: Is their sting dangerous or painful?.
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