Insects at Gateway National Recreation Area

The western honey bee or European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a species of honey bee. The genus Apis is Latin for "bee", and mellifera comes from Latin melli- "honey" and ferre "to bear"—hence the scientific name means "honey-bearing bee". The name was coined in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus who, upon realizing the bees do not bear honey, but nectar, tried later to correct it to Apis mellifica ("honey-making bee") in a subsequent publication. However, according... less ↑

The cosmopolitan bee genus Ceratina, often referred to as small carpenter bees, is the sole lineage of the tribe Ceratinini, and closely related to the more familiar carpenter bees. They make nests in dead wood, stems, or pith, and while many are solitary, a number are subsocial, with mothers caring for their larvae, and in a few cases where multiple females are found in a single nest, daughters or sisters may form very small, weakly eusocial... less ↑

With over 850 species, the genus Nomada is one of the largest genera in the entire family Apidae, and the largest genus of cleptoparasitic "cuckoo bees." They occur worldwide, and utilize many different types of bees as hosts, primarily the genus Andrena. As parasites, they lack a pollen-carrying scopa, and are often extraordinarily wasp-like in appearance with red, black, yellow colors prevailing, and with smoky (infuscated) wings or wing tips. less ↑

The common eastern carpenter bee, Xylocopa virginica, is the carpenter bee most often encountered in the eastern United States. It is often mistaken for a large bumblebee species, as they are similar in size and coloring. They can be important pollinators, especially of open-faced flowers, though they are also known to "rob" nectar by boring holes in the sides of flowers with deep corollas (thus not accomplishing pollination). They sometimes bore holes in wood dwellings and... less ↑