Identification of Bees and Wasps

@phm8871 gave an EXCELLENT description of how to begin to identify bees and wasps. I thought it was worthy of sharing, and I wanted to save it, too!

"Field marks can be confusing, start with size, general body shape then take the critter apart. START AT THE FRONT with the antennae, length, number of segments (often hard to count in field photos) color(s). Then look at the head, its shape oval, blocky, etc, eye placement, where antennae connect color, hair and the mandibles, big, small & shape. On the thorax look at the shape, colors & markings on the shell(plates), hairs, placement and color, the tegula (the things that the wings attach to, placement and color. Abdomen follow the same drill and try to describe it, long short, round flattened, extending beyond the wings (important on wasps), colors and banding; hair, coloration and location. Wings color, length, shape, shiny vs dull. Legs color(s), length, presence of scopa and their location on the hind leg, their color and length of scopa hair. A lot to look for! but learning to discriminate those marks you can see will help you distinguish families sub families and genus. Then you can try to parse species. Use something like the higher level info tabs on BugGuide like http://bugguide.net/node/view/117315 to get started on bees. Or, http://bugguide.net/node/view/59 for bees and wasps. For body partt diagrams go to the bottom of page http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Apoidea for printable of the names and locations of all those fiddlybits taxonomists use. For a quick picture guide to print got https://www.greatsunflower.org/node/1143200. to print the guide you have to join the free project."

The original post is here:

http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/3907751

Feel free to tag others that might be interested in this info!

Posted on 28 May, 2017 03:37 by kimberlietx