Common name: Black and Gold Bumble bee
Latin name: Bombus auricomus

• Has fuzzy hair with black and yellow stripes
• Large and round body with a pointed head

Bumble bees live in colonies of up to 150 worker bees with one queen.

Common name: European Western Honey bee
Latin name: Apis mellifera

• Most are amber to brown
• Mid-size, streamlined bodies with hair on the thorax (midsection)
• The only group of bees that produce honey

Tens of thousands of honey bees can live in one hive.

Common name: Leafcutter bee
Latin name: Megachilidae

• Large and hairy with black and white stripes on the abdomen
• Huge oval eyes
• Take tiny circles of leaves and use them to line their nest cells.

Leafcutter bees nest in the ground or rotting wood, building long, thin tunnels with individual compartments for each egg.

Common name: Mason bee
Latin name: Osmia

• Medium-sized, thick-bodied bees
• Usually metallic greenish-blue, but some are black or rusty red

Mason bees use mud, dirt, and clay to fill in the walls of tiny gaps in wood or stone to create a pocket to live in.

Common name: Plasterer bees
Latin name: Colletidae

• Medium-sized with long bodies
• Gray or tan with black and white stripes on the abdomen
• Head and thorax are fuzzy, and the back end is somewhat shiny
• Nest in the ground and are solitary

Plasterer bees get their name from the coating they apply to the inside of their nests that dries into a plasticky, waterproof coating.

Common name: Digger bees
Latin name: Anthophorini

• Large-bodied and very fuzzy with hair all over their abdomens and legs
• Color is gray-brown to black

To make their nests, digger bees dig into the soil and construct their homes from mud.

Common name: Carpenter bees
Latin name: Xylocopa

• Shiny and black with some yellow coloring on the thorax
• Solitary bees

Carpenter bees nest in hard wood like telephone poles, dead logs, and decks.

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