Tiny Bee?

[PunkRotten]

Hi,


I grew a bunch of Sunflowers and the bees loved it. Everyday when I would go out there the bees would be all over the flowers sometimes multiple bees on 1 flower. A few times I had seen these tiny bees on the flowers. They looked just like the regular bees only difference was there were only like half their size. Anyone know what kind of bee they were? I don't know too much about bees. I know there are honey bees and some other bees that also pollinate. I thought the smaller bee was either a different species, a baby bee, or perhaps a male bee since all the "worker" bees are female is that correct? I don't even know if the bees I often see are honey bees. Here is a pic of the bees that most often visit:


[img]https://i47.tinypic.com/wamtcy.jpg[/img]

[lorax]

If they were really really small, they might have been bee-flies, a type of hoverflies (beneficial!) that mimics bees as a form of camouflage. Otherwise they're either young bees or a different, smaller species (likely a wild bee rather than a cultivated one.)

The bees in your picture are standard honeybees.

[url=https://www.bugguide.net]Bugguide.net[/url] should be able to help you out with an ID on your little bees - just search on bees and syrphid/hover flies!

[PunkRotten]

Definitely not the hoverflies. They were exactly like the honey bees just like only half the size.

[lorax]

[url=https://bugguide.net/node/view/3076]Have a look here, then - it's the bees overview page at BugGuide.[/url] You know what your bitty bees look like, so it shouldn't be that hard to find them.

[sepeters]

I was just wondering if you ever found out what kind of bees you have? Another member in my area sent me this link.

https://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_bees.php

I know you do not live in AZ but there are also many kinds of solitary bees that are native to your area. We have discovered at least 4 different kinds of bees that frequent our garden. There is even perdita minima in my area; it looks like a skinny ant with wings. Could that be your bee? They are likely hibernating now, but will be back to pollinate your fruits and veggies in the spring.

[PunkRotten]

The only thing I could say about it is that they looked identical to standard honey bees, but only like half the size. I mostly get standard honey bees but every now and then I'd see the smaller bee tending a flower with the rest of the bees. Either it was another species that looks like honey bees or perhaps a freshly born worker bee. But I don't know if they are born smaller and grow a little or if they are born the size they will be forever.

[PunkRotten]

I rarely, if ever see bumble bees, and never see carpenter bees either. Although the season before last I used to see these really tiny metallic green looking bees that would go to my pepper flowers.