Favoritos de jtkindt

Solitary nest on hard, clay soil. She was actively excavating the nest and using her hind legs to throw soil balls 6-10 inches away. Videos posted at:
https://youtu.be/UD-IaA4sWMc?si=Jt_bN88S5nFCEA44

This is a male Hylaeus (masked bee), measuring 7 mm, found on Pyracantha. This largely black bee has yellow markings on the face, pronotal collar and pronotal lobes. The first segment of the bee’s abdomen (T1 and S1) is mostly red; the rest of the abdomen is black. The lower legs (tarsi, basitarsi and tibiae) are mostly yellow. The hind tibiae have pale orange-brown spots on the inner surfaces. The bee's upper legs are black and reddish. The apical (rear) half of each of the bee's forewings is dark.

This male was found on the same Pyracantha bush as the female shown here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/206495084

This 11 mm male resin bee was found with several other identical males on tarflower (Bejaria racemosa), a plant with fragrant, large white blossoms. Also called flycatcher, tarflower has sticky petals and buds that trap flies and other insects (although it doesn’t digest them like truly “carnivorous” or insectivorous plants). The male bee shown here got stuck on one of the buds and spent a lot of time tugging itself free. Afterwards though, it returned to the tarflower and hung around with the other males, which appeared to be looking for nectar. Some other Megachile (e.g., M. pseudobrevis, M. mendica and M. petulans) are known to visit tarflower. So do honey bees, some sweat bees, & bumble bees, despite the “flycatcher” capability.

About this ID -- the Discover Life database notes that Megachile georgica “males have a large dark brown spot on the inside face of the tarsal segment just below the front basitarsal segment; this appears to be unique to this species” (https://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?search=Megachile+georgica). Other known Megachile (Chelostomoides) of Florida include Megachile campanulae (male entirely black / doesn’t have red forelegs); M. rugifrons (front tibiae of males bright yellow & mandibles 8-dentate); and Megachile exilis parexilis. In addition to the dark spot on the tarsal segment, this bee's size and the evenly distributed & dense long white hairs all along the cheek point away from Megachile exilis. The male Megachile exilis also lacks the two short narrow stripes of pale hair on the front of the scutum.

About two weeks after the male bee shown here was found, female Megachile georgica emerged in large numbers in the same area, to gather pollen from tarflower. A female is shown here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/224177190

Today the bats didn't come out until 16 minutes after sunset, and it took even longer for them to get close. That means no color in these photos, unfortunately. Perhaps this gives a better idea of snout/ear shape though? Presumably the same species as https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/202484027