Black and Red - _TNY_8409
This little one which has parked on the side of my house is a blood bee (Sphecodes sp.).
These behave much like nomad bees and parasitise specific species of solitary bees by sneaking into their nest chambers when the owner is out foraging and lay their own egg there, much in the same way a cuckoo does.
They are notoriously difficult to figure out exact species, but there is a chance this is a Geoffroy's blood bee (Sphecodes geoffrellus) since one of their host species is the common green furrowbee (Lasioglossum morio), a species which can be found every year in front of our house.
Black and Red - _TNY_8409
This little one which has parked on the side of my house is a blood bee (Sphecodes sp.).
These behave much like nomad bees and parasitise specific species of solitary bees by sneaking into their nest chambers when the owner is out foraging and lay their own egg there, much in the same way a cuckoo does.
They are notoriously difficult to figure out exact species, but there is a chance this is a Geoffroy's blood bee (Sphecodes geoffrellus) since one of their host species is the common green furrowbee (Lasioglossum morio), a species which can be found every year in front of our house.