What Bee??

[Annarchy]

I scoured the internet and cannot figure out what bee this is.

 

It is the size of a honey bee, but, they seem to be specifically drawn to our hawthorn bush.  They are not going to any of the other flowers in our yard, like the aloe vera or Oxalis pes-caprae   

 

Any ideas?

[The WE2's]

Try looking at : 

Some harmless insects mimic bees to trick predators into thinking they’re armed with a sting. Others are relatives that have a pretty convincing family resemblance.

Hoverflies (Syrphidae)

 

[The WE2's]

Or try Mason bees...I have two Mason Bee houses.  They love the flowers on my chives.  They start hatching out early spring belly-busting everything that has nectar! LOL  They may buzz you but they don't normally sting.  They'll be gone by late summer.  Their whole life is to just gather nectar and stuff their "tubes" full of babies.  You won't find "nests"...they daub their nests under building eves where they are safe from the elements.  Love my Mason's!  They are greater pollinators that honey bees.  They land belly down and roll all over the flowers and cover themselves with nectar.  Some people mistake them for big black fly's but they are not. 

 

[The WE2's]

You may also try a rabbit trail and see if it's a type of wasp rather than a bee?  

[Jeepers]

I thought that was a fly or horse fly We2. Good to know they are good pollinators. 

[Annarchy]

Nope. Doesn’t seem to beeeeeee like them. (Pun intended). 

 

Visually, they looked like white fuzzy honey bees, however, they got aggressive/aggravated, sorta swarming, when I or the dogs get too close. I used my Sony to zoom to try to capture the pics I managed to get. 2 pictures out of 15. They’d rush away from the laser sighting.   

[Annarchy]

It sorta resembles the blueberry bee, but, they don’t have the striped abdomens like in the pics. 

[ArmyOfFive4God]

13 hours ago, Annarchy said:

It sorta resembles the blueberry bee, but, they don’t have the striped abdomens like in the pics. 

 

What did you do? Tell it to "SIT! Lay DOWN! ROLL OVER!!" ??

[The WE2's]

I still think they may be Mason's.  They will swarm and carry on, but they've never stung me and one of my chives is right beside the homestead's front steps and their houses are on the west side of the covered porch.  There are many varieties.  Check out this site...and the picture especially.

http://www.beefacts.net/mason_bees/mason_bees.html

[Dee]

Google Anthophora affabillis  (or Google black and white fuzzy bee).  That's how I found it.   

[Annarchy]

11 hours ago, Dee said:

Google Anthophora affabillis  (or Google black and white fuzzy bee).  That's how I found it.   

 

 

That’s it!!!  Thank you, so very much!    

 

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/213788-Anthophora-affabilis

 

https://eol.org/pages/1046230

 

 Observing them, I glimpsed their extended mouths and was going to add that to my search. 

 

One artical stated, the some of the bees can be specialized in what plants they pollinate. Which explains why they show no interest to any of the other flowers in our yard.  I’m wondering if we’ll have enough hawthorn berries to make jelly this year. 

 

https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/eafrinet/bee_genera/key/african_bee_genera/Media/Html_eafrica/Anthophora_bees.htm

 

 

 

[The WE2's]

23 hours ago, Dee said:

Google Anthophora affabillis  (or Google black and white fuzzy bee).  That's how I found it.   

 

WOW...never heard of them!