petulant leaf-cutter bee (Megachile petulans) male at Cardinal Marsh IA 653A3092

            Here's another nice summery scene, featuring the neat little petulant leaf-cutter bee. His female friend also likes to visit legume flowers like this birdsfoot trefoil when she's gathering pollen for provisioning her nests. Females dig out hollow chambers in pithy plants like sumac and then make several tiny nests inside that are lined and sealed up with cut-up leaves. She flies to favored plants like wild roses, green ash trees or Virginia creeper vines and cuts out leaf rounds with her teeth that are then carried back and fashioned into the cigar-shaped nest chambers. Each nest chamber contains an egg and pollen food ball for the larvae to devour as it develops. Larvae pupate in the fall and overwinter inside the sumac or similar hollow plant stems before emerging the following summer as adults. This lazy male leaves his mate the day after their honeymoon, never to return and help with raising the kids. I can see why she'd have cause to be petulant.
   

Taken in: United States / Iowa / Vernon Springs Township / Vernon Springs (show map)

Taken on: July 16, 2019

Tags:

petulant

leaf-cutter

Megachile

petulans

male

feeding

birdsfoot

trefoil

Cardinal

Marsh

Winneshiek

County

Iowa

Larry

Reis « less

Camera: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, f/3.5, 1/800 sec, 100mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Aperture:	f/3.5
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/800)
Focal Length:	100mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	+1 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Shutter speed priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Show full info

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