#CellophaneBees Brew Liquid Food for Their Offspring https://www.sci.news/biology/cellophane-bee-breweries-12237.html

#Bee #breweries: The unusually fermentative, #lactobacilli-dominated brood cell #microbiomes of cellophane bees https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1114849/full

"Lactobacilli #bacteria are important for #fermentation of food... finding #WildBees that use them essentially the same way was really surprising... What makes these #bees special is that they’ve figured out how to create a favorable environment in which lactobacilli can grow well."

It's a warm, sunny day after soaking rains eartlier this week. That means it's time for my cellophane bees to emerge in force!

This is my 16th year of observing this population in my garden. I'm always excited to see "my little bees".

Here's my blog post from the first year I noticed them, in 2008.

https://www.flatbushgardener.com/2008/05/27/colletes-thoracicus-colletidae-cellophane-bees/

#Bees #Anthophila #CellophaneBees #SolitaryBees #Colletes #GroundNestingBees