# Help ID a solitary bee



## Omie (Nov 10, 2009)

Hi, I am in New York state. 
In mid april, I put up a bee block with tube diameters intentionally sized at about 1/4". This was to see if it attracted some leafcutter bees, which I have read like slightly smaller tubes than blue orchard mason bees.
I got the block up a bit late, around april 15th, and no one showed much interest in it. The blue orchard bees and the Osmia taurus mason bees all preferred the other tubes with the 5/16" diameters.

However, in late summer after the other bees were pretty much done, I did get one little dark non-descript bee that appeared and quickly filled one 1/4" tube and sealed it before it disappeared. I hardly got a chance to even see it, but it definitely looked like a small dark bee to me. It moved in and out quickly, so was hard to watch or take photos of.

I did not see it bring any actual _pieces_ of leaves in, and it plugged the end of the tube with a dark blackish-green _tar_, like a chewed dark mash of vegetation. Not mud.

Here is what the black-green mash looked like: 
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9fPBEJTqGzw/TNmfgbEIU1I/AAAAAAAADGA/iM2f3QPsAzc/s1600/leafcbeetube2010.jpg

Can anyone help me identify this bee based on this incomplete info?


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Omie - slightly off-topic, but there is a book you may find of interest. The Social Behavior of the Bees, A comparative Study by Charles D. Michener, copyright 1974 Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. SBN 674-81175-5

Not so much an identification guide, but many pix, illustrations, and behavior clues that might help.

Hope this helps, KC


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## Seattleite (Jan 30, 2010)

Try this tool: 

http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?guide=Bee_genera&flags=not_no:


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## woodinvilledave (Apr 13, 2010)

I can help you get this to a local entomologist. I'd like to ID this as well. ...and encourage you to have more straws of variable sizes.

Send me an email directly [email protected]

thanks Omie,

Dave


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