Bought couple hotels today for the summer inhabitants already. Now just need to wait a week or two for the snow to melt so can put these up. #insecthotel #garden #nature #finland

Female hornfaced bee taking a break at one of my insect hotels. Per an article I found, this species (introduced into U.S. from Asia) prefers pollen from plants that are also from Asia. But will also collect from related, native species. Mainly Rosacea and Fabaceae. #bee #Osmia #BeeHotel #InsectHotel #insect #pollen #pollinator #nature #entomology #MacroPhotography

Had three of these beauties emerge yesterday. Blue orchard bee (Osmia lignaria). Female. #Osmia #bee #insect #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #MasonBee #Megachilidae #Hymenoptera #entomology #nature #pollinator #MacroPhotography

Female Osmia georgica using mandibles to cut through silk cocoon. Nest partitions are separated by masticated leaf pulp. #Osmia #bee #insect #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #MasonBee #Hymenoptera #entomology #nature #pollinator #photography

This is the insect hotel I built in my front yard so that people walking by my house can stop and enjoy a little bee and wasp action. It's sort of like a Free Little Library, but for entotainment. #bees #wasps #insect #nature #BeeHotel #InsectHotel #Hymenoptera #entomology

One of the joys of running an insect hotel is that you have an abundant supply of charismatic microfauna to photograph. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bee #Osmia #MasonBee #Hymenoptera #insect #entomology #nature #pollinator

If you manage a bee hotel, one pest to look out for is Chaetodactylus krombeini, a kleptoparasitic mite. They nibble away at the nectar-and-pollen provisions in mason bee tunnels, starving the bee larvae. And in the spring, they crawl onto one of the surviving bees as a way to get to a new location (phoresy). In hotels that haven't been cleaned in years, their numbers can be so high that the bees cannot take off (see pic in link). This is one reason why I opt for disposable paper straws for tunnels instead of bamboo. I.e., I can unwrap all the straws and deal with mites if they are present. #bee #mites #cocoon #Osmia #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #MasonBee #Hymenoptera #insect #entomology #nature #pollinatorhttps://www.inaturalist.org/observations/7309509

Here's one of perhaps 25 mason bees that chewed out of their sleeping bags today. I think it's another Osmia cornifrons. #bee #cocoon #Osmia #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #MasonBee #Hymenoptera #insect #entomology #nature #pollinator

Newly-eclosed Osmia cornifrons clinging to a frass-covered cocoon. For those interested in macro photography, this is a 7-image focus-stack using Zerene Stacker. Lens was a Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x. #bee #Osmia #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #MasonBee #Hymenoptera #insect #ZereneStacker #photography #MacroPhotography #entomology #nature #pollinator

If you're on iNaturalist and have an insect hotel, please consider adding pics to the Bee and Wasp Hotels project. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bee #bees #wasp #wasps #identification #taxonomy #Hymenoptera #insect #entomology #nature #pollinator #inaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/bee-and-wasp-hotels

Two more mason bees emerged today from the cocoons I collected from my insect hotels. I think both are hornfaced bees (Osmia cornifrons) but males are hard. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #MasonBee #Osmia #bee #Hymenoptera #insect #entomology #nature #pollinator

Also emerging today was a male hornfaced bee (Osmia cornifrons). This species was introduced to the United States in the 1970s to help pollinate apple trees. Don't get me started. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #MasonBee #Osmia #bee #Hymenoptera #insect #entomology #nature #pollinator #apple

My mason bees started to emerge today. Pretty sure this is a male Osmia georgica, a species native to my area (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, USA). #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #MasonBee #Osmia #bee #Hymenoptera #insect #entomology #nature #pollinator

Houdini flies (Cacoxenus indagator) should be on the radar of anyone who has a bee hotel. They dart into unguarded nests to lay eggs, then their larvae consume the pollen balls that are inside, causing the bee larvae to starve. You can help reduce the population size of these introduced pests by using paper drinking straws as nests. Just unwrap, then put the Houdini fly larvae aside for disposal. If you want help IDing them, contact me. #bees #insects #InsectHotel #BeeHotel

If you want to buy an insect hotel for your yard, look for one that has cardboard nesting tunnels like the one circled in green. And, ideally, one that has paper straws inside the cardboard. This setup makes it easy to unwrap the nests and get rid of kleptoparasitic Houdini flies. This is also a good time to clean off any mites on the bee cocoons before they infest another generation. It's impossible to do this needed cleaning if tunnels are bamboo sections or holes drilled in wood. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bees #insects

The reason the above is a mystery to me is that the perp doesn't look like any of the usual suspects I find parasitizing mason bee tunnels. My wild hunch at the moment is that the larva is a six-spotted spider beetle (Ptinus sexpunctatus), a species known in Europe to inhabit nests of several genera of bees. Per Majka et al. (2007) it is now established in western North America. It was also reported from Pennsylvania in 1915 but that was inside a walnut from Europe. Of course, it could be a different member of the genus (there are dozens in the United States), or even something altogether different (likely). If all goes well with rearing I might get an ID in two months. So stay tuned if this is mildly interesting to you. (2/n)

#InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bees #insects #entomology #beetle #Coleoptera #nature

The reason the above is a mystery to me is that the perp doesn't look like any of the usual suspects I find parasitizing mason bee tunnels. My wild hunch at the moment is that the larva is a six-spotted spider beetle (Ptinus sexpunctatus), a species known in Europe to inhabit nests of several genera of bees. Per Majka et al. (2007) it is now established in western North America. It was also reported from Pennsylvania in 1915 but that was inside a walnut from Europe. Of course, it could be a different member of the genus (there are dozens in the United States), or even something altogether different (likely). If all goes well with rearing I might get an ID in two months. So stay tuned if this is mildly interesting to you. (2/n)

#InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bees #insects #entomology #beetle #Coleoptera #nature

So I'm working on a Mason Bee Murder Mystery.

Sometime last year an unknown insect gained entry to an Osmia nest at one of my hotels and either ate a bee larva's provision of pollen and nectar or ate the larva after it had finished its pollen ball. There's no body and no witnesses. But the perp (at right in image) is still at the scene, alive, and quite plump. I'm attempting to rear it to adulthood to get an ID. (1/n)

#InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bees #insects #entomology #nature

So I'm working on a Mason Bee Murder Mystery.

Sometime last year an unknown insect gained entry to an Osmia nest at one my hotels and either ate a bee larva's provision of pollen and nectar or ate the larva after it had finished its pollen ball. There's no body and no witnesses. But the perp (at right in image) is still at the scene, alive, and quite plump. I'm attempting to rear it to adulthood to get an ID. (1/n)

#InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bees #insects #entomology #nature

Here's an Osmia georgica just after eclosion. Check out her bright yellow scopal (pollen-collecting) hairs on the ventral surface of the metasoma. And those eyes! #bees #insects #BeeHotel #InsectHotel #entomology #nature #Hymenoptera