California digger-cuckoo bee

[Peter Woods]

Today I visited a local digger bee (Anthophora abrupta) colony to search for the cuckoo bee Melecta pacifica. I didn't see those, but there were a number of larger cuckoos zipping around the colony. I think they are California digger-cuckoo bees, which would be a state record for PA! They range across the country and are known from as far east as OH, plus one record in VA, so not completely unexpected here. I need someone to confirm the ID, but they were in a digger bee colony, and they seem distinctly shaggier than our other large cuckoo bees.

-Pete

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/368998862

[Peg Friese]

Very cool!!!

Peg

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[Margarita M Lopez-Uribe]

What a interesting looking bee!

Thanks for sharing Pete!

Message sent from my phone. Please excuse any typos.

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[Nash Turley]

Wow, cool!  If that ID is correct not only a new species for PA but also a new genus! 

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