Anthidium
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Anthidium
''Anthidium'' is a genus of bees often called carder or potter bees, who do not cut leaves, but use conifer resin, plant hairs, mud, or a mix of them to build nests. Like other members of the family Megachilidae (most of which are called "leafcutter bees"), they are solitary bees with pollen-carrying scopa that are only located on the ventral surface of the abdomen (other bee families have pollen-carrying structures on the hind legs). The ~80 species are distributed primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, and South America. Description Most ''Anthidium'' species have cream to yellow abdominal bands, typically interrupted in the middle. There is no lobe ( arolium) between their claws. ''Anthidium manicatum'', commonly known as the wool carder bee, uses comblike mandibles to "comb" plant fibers into its brood cell walls. It has spread from Europe to North and South America. The males are much larger (ca. 18 mm) than the females (ca.12 mm) which is not uncommon among Megachil ...
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Anthidium Manicatum
''Anthidium manicatum'', commonly called the European wool carder bee, is a species of bee in the family Megachilidae, the leaf-cutter bees or mason bees. They get the name "carding, carder" from their behaviour of scraping hair from leaves such as lamb's ears (''Stachys byzantina''). They carry this hair bundled beneath their bodies to be used as a nest lining. Like other members of the tribe Anthidiini, these bees do not cut leaves or petals as is typical for megachilids. The males engage in territorial behaviour, aggressively chasing other males and pollinators from their territory. This bee is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It has recently been seen in regions of South America, New Zealand, and the Canary Islands. They are generalists, and do not seem to prefer any plant genera for foraging, although in New Zealand, native plants are visited less frequently by this bee species. It was accidentally introduced into North America from Europe some time in the mid-20th ...
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Megachilidae
Megachilidae is a cosmopolitan family of mostly solitary bees. Characteristic traits of this family are the restriction of their pollen-carrying structure (called a '' scopa'') to the ventral surface of the abdomen (rather than mostly or exclusively on the hind legs as in other bee families), and their typically elongated labrum. C. D. Michener (2007) ''The Bees of the World'', 2nd Edition, pg. 122, Johns Hopkins University Press. Megachilid genera are most commonly known as mason bees and leafcutter bees, reflecting the materials from which they build their nest cells (soil or leaves, respectively); a few collect plant or animal hairs and fibers, and are called carder bees, while others use plant resins in nest construction and are correspondingly called resin bees. All species feed on nectar and pollen, but a few are kleptoparasites (informally called " cuckoo bees"), feeding on pollen collected by other megachilid bees. Parasitic species do not possess scopae. The motion ...
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