Solitary bees
Website under construction
The creation of the first Serbian amateur website dedicated to solitary bees is in progress.I have created this website out of enthusiasm and a great love I have towards these bees.
For starters I will present 6 photographs of a breed of solitary bees which I have encountered
for the first time in 2016. and haven't found any information about in literature.
This photo shows a male of the species,
which is substantially smaller than the female,
with long antenae and characteristic
red hair between the eyes.
This is a photo of a female,
which is very large, larger than Osmia cornuta.
Her body is covered by gray hair and the head
is covered by red hair.
Also a female,
just before the morning take-off.
This female is waiting at the exit of her habitat
in order to achieve an adequate morning temperature.
Characteristic to this species when compared to others
is their earlier morning take-off from habitat.
The bees have nested in a wall of an abandoned shed,
10 meters away from where I have made
a habitat for Osmia cornuta.
From time to time they would come late in the evening
and inhabit the largest holes I have drilled in the wall.
A characteristic of this species is exceptionally
loud humming and long circling before entering a hole.
I haven't noticed them carrying pollen on their belly,
nor that they enclose holes with mud,
thus this bee is totally unknown for me.
Everything about solitary bees has been written and is avaliable on many websites in English and German,
so I will not repeat the content of those websites. For those who wish more information on species and breeding of solitary bees,
it's enough that you search for Solitary Bees, Wild Bees, Mason Bees, Wildbienen or Mauerbienen,
you will find a lot of fantastic websites discussing this topic.
The mission of this website is to present the diversity of solitary bees in teritory of Serbia and region,
in one place, and to contriubte to preservation of these genetic resources invaluable to plant pollination.
My end goal is to display the effect these bees have on pollinating
different types of fruit and vegetables in Serbia and the region.
Your Miroslav Savic
