#european wool carder bee

[wildlifegermany]

[justvisitingthisplanet]

(9-22-24)

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

Wool-Carder Bees: these solitary bees harvest the soft, downy hairs that grow on certain plants, rolling them into bundles and then using the material to line their nests

Wool-carder bees build their nests in existing cavities, usually finding a hole/crevice in a tree, a plant stem, a piece of rotting wood, or a man-made structure, and then lining the cavity with woolly plant fibers, which are used to form a series of brood cells.

The fibers (known as trichomes) are collected from the leaves and stems of various plants, including lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina), mulleins, globe thistle, rose campion, and other fuzzy plants.

From the University of Florida's Department of Entomology & Nematology:

The female uses her toothed mandibles to scrape trichomes off fuzzy plants and collects a ball of the material under her abdomen. She transports these soft plant fibers to her selected nest site and uses them to line a brood cell. Next, she collects and deposits a provision of pollen and nectar into the cell, enough pollen to feed a larva until it is ready to pupate. Lastly, she lays a single egg on top of the pollen and nectar supply before sealing the cell. ... She will repeat this process with adjoining cells until the cavity is full.

These are solitary bees, meaning that they do not form colonies or live together in hives. Each female builds her own nest, and the males do not have nests at all.

Female wool-carder bees will sometimes sting if their nest is threatened, but they are generally docile. The males are notoriously aggressive, however; they will often chase, head-butt, and/or wrestle any other insect that invades their territory, and they may defend their territory from intruders up to 70 times per hour. The males do not have stingers, but there are five tiny spikes located on the last segment of their abdomen, and they often use those spikes when fighting. They also have strong, sharp mandibles that can crush other bees.

There are many different types of wool-carder bee, but the most prolific is the European wool-carder (Anthidium manicatum), which is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, but has also become established as an invasive species throughout much of North America, most of South America, and New Zealand. It is the most widely distributed unmanaged bee in the world.

A few different species of wool-carder bee: the top row depicts the European wool-carder, A. manicatum (left) and the spotted wool-carder, Anthidium maculosum (right), while the bottom row depicts the reticulated small-woolcarder, Pseudoanthidium reticulatum, and Porter's wool-carder, Anthidium porterae

Sources & More Info:

University of Florida: The Woolcarder Bee

Oregon State University: European Woolcarder Bees

Bohart Museum of Entomology: Facts about the Wool Carder Bee (PDF)

Bumblebee Conservation Trust: A. manicatum

World's Best Gardening Blog: European Wool Carder Bees - Likeable Bullies

Biological Invasions: Global Invasion by Anthidium manicatum

[celestialmacros]

Went to a well-known public garden and found lots of wildlife on the flowers.

Bicolored Striped Sweat Bee (Agapostemon virescens)

Brown-Belted Bumblebee (Bombus griseocollis)

European Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium manicatum)

Nomad Bee (Nomada sp.)

Longhorn Bee (Melissodes sp.)

June 15, 2023

Southeastern Pennsylvania

[scopnotes]

Day 19: Lappet

Day 20: Pygmy Damselfly

Day 21: Tetratoma Fungorum

Day 22: Booklice

Day 23: Spiked Magician

Day 24: European Wool Carder Bee

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

[vhsdruid]

how do u feel about insect pinning? i am a hobbyist and although i can never bear to kill a not-already-dying insect (because its so much nicer to see them alive) i feel like collecting a freshly dead or dying wasp and caring for them in that way after death is such a thoughtful and nice process :)

such a lovely hobby! im an amateur myself, though i don't have much of a collection or anything. i briefly spent time helping pin a large backlog of collected specimens at a museum.

i'm with you on not wanting to kill insects just to preserve them, i would much rather collect already dead or dying specimens. although, i recently put down a male wool carder bee that had taken up territory in my yard to pin. the european wool carder bee is invasive to the americas and the males will attack any pollinators that enter it's territory. overall detrimental to the local ecosystem. so while it's not much in the grand scheme of saving the environment, i figured we could go with one less wool carder in the states.

included a pic under the cut, its not great work but he's a gorgeous specimen! theres also an empty wasp nest in the photo, if you have issues with trypophobia.

[lyds-photography]

European wool carder bee

Tried a few different crops with this one.

[bumblechub]

Buzz buzz Trick or Treat!

trick or treat trick or treat! Anthidium manicatum, or the european wool carder bee, is one of my favorite kinds of bee! I love how they clip hairs off of plants (think fuzzy ones like lamb’s ear), roll them up, and use them to line their nests!!

here's a video of one doing her thing!

[entofieldnotes]

Glechoma hederacea

🌿Glechoma hederacea

Family: Lamiacea (Mint)

Common Names: Ground Ivy, Creeping Charlie, & gill-over-the-ground

Perennial herbaceous plant

Native to Europe, and introduced to North America as early as the 1800's. It is considered Invasive in the U.S as it forms dense patches that can push out native plants.

Pollinators include: Anthophora furcata (Fork-tailed flower bee) Anthidum manicatum (European wool carder bee) Anthophora plumipes (Hairy-footed flower bee) Anthophora quadrimaculata (Four-branded flower bee) Anthophora abrupta (Minor bee) Osmia aurulenta (Gold-fringed mason bee) Osmia caerulescens (Blue mason bee) Osmia lignaria (Blue orchard bee)

[wills-woodland-warriors]

what are Tawnytrot's kits names + genders?

WoolcarderKit (Molly, after the European wool carder bee)

AshyKit (Molly, after the ashy mining bee)

Everyone in tawny’s bio family line is named after bees (tawny mining bee for tawnytrot, hornets for, well, HornetLeg)!

[creative-anchorage]

European wool carder bees

Anthidium manicatum, commonly called the European wool carder bee, is a species of bee in the family Megachilidae, the leaf-cutter bees or mason bees. They get the name "carder" from their behaviour of scraping hair from leaves such as lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina). They carry this hair bundled beneath their bodies to be used as a nest lining. Like other members of the tribe Anthidiini, these bees do not cut leaves or petals as is typical for megachilids. 

vid from jodybugsme on tt

[onenicebugperday]

Who’s this guy? He flew just like a hoverfly, but was both substantially larger and more bee-looking than other hoverflies I’ve seen. Would have thought he was a regular bee if not for the way he was flying. He was about the size of a standard honeybee, maybe a litle broader. Found in Salt Lake County, Utah!

Oooh a stylish lil bud! Excellent outfit and eyeballs. Looks to me like a European wool carder bee as far as I can tell from these photos. They’re a type of leaf-cutter bee, but instead of cutting pieces out of the leaves, they scrape off the hairs on the leaves of certain plants to line their nests! They are, unfortunately, invasive in the US.

[pangeen]

Suspendue (Abeille Cotonnière♂️)

by Steve Fanouillet

[captaincleverusernamehere]

i love dnd

[celestialmacros]

Ridiculously cute, and only the second one I’ve ever seen.

European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum?)

July 29, 2017

Southeastern Pennsylvania

Introduced into the US around 1963 in New York State (If it is A. manicatum.)

[adobe-outdesign]

[8/11/20] European Wool Carder Bee, Anthidium manicatum.

These guys steal fuzz off of plants and use it as nest lining.