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 ↑

Hylaeus is a large (>500 species) and diverse cosmopolitan genus within the bee family Colletidae, consisting of generally small, black and yellow/white wasp-like species. The resemblance to wasps is enhanced by the absence of a scopa, which is atypical among bees; Hylaeus carry pollen in the crop, rather than externally, and regurgitate it into the cell where it will be used as larval food. Like most colletids, the liquid provisions are sealed inside a membranous cellophane-like... less ↑

The genus Halictus is a large assemblage of bee species in the family Halictidae. The genus is divided into 15 subgenera, containing well over 300 species, primarily in the Northern Hemisphere (a few species occur in South America and Africa). Most species are black or dark brown, sometimes metallic greenish-tinted, with apical whitish abdominal bands (the related genus Lasioglossum, which is otherwise often similar in appearance, has the abdominal hair bands located basally, not apically). less ↑

Halictus ligatus is a species of sweat bee from the family Halictidae, characterized by those bees that mine or burrow into the ground to create their nests, which is one of the most common families of bees that live in temperate areas of the world. The term sweat bee is the common name used for Halictus ligatus because they are attracted to the salts of human perspiration. Most are small to medium in size, ranging from less ↑

The sweat bee genus Lasioglossum is the largest of all bee genera, containing over seventeen hundred species in numerous subgenera worldwide. They are highly variable in size, coloration, and sculpture; among the more unusual variants, some are cleptoparasites, some are nocturnal, and some are oligolectic. Most Lasioglossum nest in the ground, but some species nest in rotten logs. less ↑

Lasioglossum leucozonium (Schrank, 1781), also known as Lasioglossum similis, is a widespread solitary sweat bee found in North America, Europe, Asia, and parts of northern Africa. While now a common bee in North America, population genetic analysis has shown that it is actually an invasive species in this region. This population was most likely founded by a single female bee. less ↑

The European paper wasp (Polistes dominula often misspelled as dominulus) is one of the more common and well-known species of social wasps in Europe. Polistes dominula is often referred to as the European Paper Wasp because of its native distribution and its nests, which are constructed from paper and saliva. Its diet is more versatile than that of most Polistes species, consisting of many genera of insects. The dominant females (queens) are the principal egg layers,... less ↑