Help needed with Bee ID

[welsh.lensman]

Can anyone help with IDing this bee



Thanks Wayne

[ChrisJB]

It looks a lot like a red mason bee (Osmia rufa). I'm not 100 per cent, but I get them in the garden from time to time. I eagerly await to be corrected on this one.

Regards, Chris

[eucera]

This is a female leaf-cutter bee (Megachile) and could be M. willughbiella. It is in the same sub-family of bees as Osmia (ie the Megachilini), typified by the pollen collecting apparatus, the scopa, being on the underside of the abdomen of the female

[ChrisJB]

Originally Posted by eucera

This is a female leaf-cutter bee (Megachile) and could be M. willughbiella. It is in the same sub-family of bees as Osmia (ie the Megachilini), typified by the pollen collecting apparatus, the scopa, being on the underside of the abdomen of the female

Hi Eucera

I get some kind of leaf cutter bee in my garden that shows pollen on the abdomen. It uses the same nesting tubes I put up for the red mason bee. My only concern is that the next generation never seem to hatch out the following year. Come to think of it, the mason bees don't seem to make it through the winters either.

Regards, Chris

[aeshna5]

Over the weekend I noticed several of what I'm fairly confident is a Megachile sp. visiting the flowers of Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil by my pond. Is there a species that particularly favours this plant?

[eucera]

Not really... A number of Megachile favour Fabaceae

[welsh.lensman]

Thanks everyone for your contribution and a special thank you to you eucera for your ID.

Thanks again