Last post for the day. We recently went to Eskbank House for an ID session and while we were there we found an aggregation of ground dwelling bees. Its taken me this long to get another look at them and ID them. The first image is of the ground where we found the nests. It was about 3m x 3m in area, on the slope of a garden. No mulch or plants. There were probably a hundred holes, 1.5mm across, in this area. The only way i could be sure to capture the right bee from an entrance hole was to suck her up with a puter (aspirator). Tip for young players, dont suck too hard when capturing from ground nests. Grit in the teeth for an uncomfortable period of time.... The second image is the apex of the metasoma, in an attempt to image the notch. But the bee was covered in dirt from being sucked up with the nest soil.... Not very diagnostic however, the end of the metasoma looks to be too hairy to be a Homalictus. The third image is of her perched on the petri dish stem. Give you a better look at the face but isnt very diagnostic either. The forth image is a bee exiting the burrow. The marking on her face is probably dirt, not facial markings After much consultation we think it is a Lasioglossum. So there is a lovely nest aggregation of Lasioglossum at Eskbank house if you are up for a visit.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 00:37:28 +0000