spring beauty Andrena (Andrena erigeniae) bee on spring beauty at Lake Meyer Park IA 854A2332
This small black bee is highlighting here just how many complicated connections there are bound to be out in nature's grand web of life. Female spring beauty Andrena bees use their legs and teeth to dig a six-inch long tunnel back into a sunny south-facing woodland slope. Then she carries spring beauty pollen like this back to that tunnel and begins building a big spring beauty pollen ball at the back end of that hole. Once that huge nutritious food ball is finished, she lays an egg on it, seals off the tunnel chamber and flies away forever. Adults feed on spring beauty nectar and pollen for about a month before dying. When the larva hatches out later this spring, it feeds on all that pollen from spring beauty flowers all summer long. In early autumn the larva pupates, and emerges as an adult just before freeze-up in late fall. Males and females simply sleep the winter away inside their snug chambers and then chew their way free from the brood tube right now as spring beauty starts to bloom. After mating, females get started making plans for the next generation. If spring beauty disappears in an area, so will the spring beauty Andrena bees since they are specialized to subsist only on that one flower.
spring beauty Andrena (Andrena erigeniae) bee on spring beauty at Lake Meyer Park IA 854A2332
This small black bee is highlighting here just how many complicated connections there are bound to be out in nature's grand web of life. Female spring beauty Andrena bees use their legs and teeth to dig a six-inch long tunnel back into a sunny south-facing woodland slope. Then she carries spring beauty pollen like this back to that tunnel and begins building a big spring beauty pollen ball at the back end of that hole. Once that huge nutritious food ball is finished, she lays an egg on it, seals off the tunnel chamber and flies away forever. Adults feed on spring beauty nectar and pollen for about a month before dying. When the larva hatches out later this spring, it feeds on all that pollen from spring beauty flowers all summer long. In early autumn the larva pupates, and emerges as an adult just before freeze-up in late fall. Males and females simply sleep the winter away inside their snug chambers and then chew their way free from the brood tube right now as spring beauty starts to bloom. After mating, females get started making plans for the next generation. If spring beauty disappears in an area, so will the spring beauty Andrena bees since they are specialized to subsist only on that one flower.