Publications

The Minnesota Bee Atlas project contributed new information about bee distributions, phenologies, and community structure by mobilizing participatory science volunteers to document bees statewide. Volunteers submitted iNaturalist (©2016 California Academy of Sciences) photograph observations, monitored nest-traps for tunnel-nesting bees, and conducted roadside observational bumble bee surveys. 

In this article, we report the first Minnesota state records of Osmia georgica, Megachile inimica, and Megachile frugalis, which were collected in 2018. We also provide the first description of the nest structure of M. frugalis. All three species typically have more southern distributions. The nest of M. frugalis shows similar structure to other species in the subgenus Sayapis, such as M. inimica and M. pugnata.

Bee nesting substrate choice can influence habitat use, conservation effort efficacy, and population or landscape-use modeling, but information on nesting sites are often scattered in the literature. Here we bring together the available information on nests of a widespread bee, Anthophora (Clisodon) terminalis Cresson, and describe an unusual new nesting substrate use for this species. 

New records are reported for the cleptoparasitic bee Stelis permaculata Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) from Minnesota, United States of America and Manitoba, Canada. Minnesota records come from trap-nests, which also collected the host, Heriades carinata Cresson.