2 comments for “Merodon equistris, methinks…”

  1. You are OK as that is one of the native species of Bumble Bees and not a bulb fly. The thick hairs of these creatures gather up a lot of pollen and they carry it from flower to flower. Upon returning to their colony the other bees will help clean up the pollen that these forager bees cannot reach. They have regular pollen baskets on their back legs like a lot of the other species of bees that work hard as pollinators. Keith Kridler Mt. Pleasant Texas


  2. Thank you, Keith.  I’m glad for the advice of you more experienced hands.

    I always try to count the wings, knowing that flies would have 2 and bees would have 4.
    I guess they must fold them on top of one another, because I can only see two.  I’m
    glad it is a bee, and since it is, that I didn’t harm it.  I try to keep the whole ecosystem
    going here.  Last year I caught what I thought were bulb flies, but it was much later in
    the season, April 24.  In the photos, I can see the short antennae that Mary Lou pointed
    out, and the fact that the carapace over the thorax is burnished and shiny, and not
    furry like the bee.  I’ll post two photos on the next message.
    m

    ps I’m not sure a fly has a carapace, but after writing it down in analogy to a crayfish,
    I did find one paper that included that term for Diptera.
    "In this paper, we will concentrate on the Dipteran dorsal mesothorax (notum), a much enlarged carapace that houses the powerful flight muscles."

    At 04:08 AM 2/8/2010, Keith Kridler wrote:

    You are OK as that is one of the native species of Bumble Bees and not a
    bulb fly. The thick hairs of these creatures gather up a lot of pollen and
    they carry it from flower to flower. Upon returning to their colony the
    other bees will help clean up the pollen that these forager bees cannot
    reach. They have regular pollen baskets on their back legs like a lot of the
    other species of bees that work hard as pollinators. Keith Kridler Mt.
    Pleasant Texas


     

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