Bumblebees and Leaf-Cutter Bees

The previously discussed article in Natural History titled Unsung heroines of pollination, provides information about a variety of bees which include bumblebees and leaf-cutter bees. Information in this blog entry is derived from that aricle.

Bumblebees are those familiar large and fuzzy bees. Their genus is Bombus and in North America there are 46 species of bumblebees. Bumblebees sometimes form their nests in abandoned mouse nests. The queen is the only one to live through winters and in the spring will lay the eggs that give birth to workers and new colonies.

Since bumblebees adapt well to greenhouses they can be active during the entire year when housed this way. Growers are able to take advantage of this property of bumblebees and can pollinate hothouse tomatoes and other plants with them.

There are about 120 species of leaf-cutter bees in North America although these bees are found throughout the world. Unlike the social bumblebees, leaf-cutter bees are solitary and usually nest in preexisting holes. Pollen is carried under their abdomen. A species known as the Eurasian alfalfa leaf-cutter bee, (M. rotundata), is prized and raised by the millions in the United States because it pollinates alfalfa. Alfalfa is very important to livestock.