(Anthidium manicatum)
Conservation • Description • Habitat • Biology • Distribution • Taxonomy
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Description |
European wool carder bee is an exotic, medium sized, wasp-like bee. It is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It was first discovered in North America in Ithaca, New York in 1963. Some sources say that it was purposefully introduced to pollinate alfalfa. According to research entomologist Tom Zavortink of the Bohart Museum that is not true. It was accidentally “introduced into New York state, presumably from Europe, before 1963.” It has since spread across the United States and southern Canada. In the U.S. it is most common in the northeast, in the Upper Midwest, and on the West Coast. It is absent from the Great Plains and the south. It was first discovered in Minnesota in 2009. Adults are active from June through early October in Minnesota. They are found in a variety of habitats, including meadows, fields, open deciduous woodlands, gardens, and disturbed areas. They are generalist feeders, visiting flowers from many plant families. Adult females are 7⁄16″ to ½″ (11 to 13 mm) in length. Males are larger, 9⁄16″ to ⅝″ (14 to 17 mm) in length. The body is robust and black with yellow, wasp-like markings. On the female, the head is black and is covered with short, yellowish-brown hairs. There is a yellow mark on the top of the head (vertex) behind each compound eye. The plate on the face above the upper lip (clypeus) has a large yellow blotch on the lower half with a lobe on each side that extents upward. There is a yellow mark on each side of the face bordering the clypeus and the compound eye that ends above at the antennae base. The antennae are entirely black. A single line-like groove extends downward from the base of each antenna (subantennal suture). The subantennal sutures are very straight, not curved. They rise on the outer margin of each antennae base and extend to the top of the clypeus. The jaws (mandibles) are mostly yellow, black just at the tip, and they have many teeth. The exoskeletal plates on the upper side of the thorax, from front to rear, are the pronotum, scutum, scutellum, and metanotum. The side lobes of the pronotum are yellow. The scutum is black and is covered with erect, yellowish-brown hairs. There is a long, bold, yellow stripe on each lateral margin. The small plates covering the wing bases (tegulae) are black with a small yellow spot. There is a small triangular area (axilla) adjacent to each front corner of the scutellum. The axillae are yellow. Abdominal segments (tergites) 1 through 6 (T1 to T6) have a yellow band on each side. The bands on T1 are widely separated from each other in the middle, but they get progressively closer together approaching the end of the abdomen. On the underside of each abdominal segment there is a band of yellowish-brown, pollen-collecting hairs (scopa). The wings are tinted smoky brown. The veins are brownish black. The opaque cell (stigma) on the leading edge (costal margin) is very short. The legs are mostly yellow and black. The third leg segment (femur) of each leg is reddish orange. The fourth leg segment (tibia) is black with a broad yellow stripe on the upper surface. On the male, the clypeus is almost entirely yellow, black just at the base. The yellow mark on the scutum is very small. The bands on the abdomen are often interrupted, separated into spots, or reduced to a single spot at the margin. The abdomen has 7 segments. There is a dense tuft of yellowish-brown hairs on each side of T1 through T4. On T6 there is a spine on each side. On T7 there is a spine on each side and another in the middle. There are no scopa on the underside of the abdomen. On each leg, the femur is black and there is a fringe of long white hairs on the underside of the femur and the tibia. |
Size |
Female total length: 7⁄16″ to ½″ (11 to 13 mm) Male total length: 9⁄16″ to ⅝″ (14 to 17 mm) |
Similar Species |
Habitat |
A variety of habitats, including meadows, fields, open deciduous woodlands, gardens, and disturbed areas. |
Biology |
Season |
June through October |
Behavior |
The male is aggressively territorial. It will attack and drive off or kill any insect pollinator that enters its territory and is not a female European wool carder bee. The female builds a nest in a preexisting cavity in wood or a hollow stem. She lines her nest with hairs that she scrapes (“cards”) from the leaves of a woolly plant like common mullein. |
Life Cycle |
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Larva Food |
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Adult Food |
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Distribution |
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Sources Portman Z M, Gardner J, Lane I G, Gerjets N, Petersen J D, Ascher J S, Arduser M, Evans E C, Boyd C, Thomson R, Cariveau D P, plazi (2023). A checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Minnesota. Plazi.org taxonomic treatments database. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/qt7spn. |
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12/15/2024 | ||
Occurrence |
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Taxonomy |
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Order |
Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps, and sawflies) |
Suborder |
Apocrita (narrow-waisted wasps, ants, and bees) |
Infraorder |
Aculeata (ants, bees, and stinging wasps) |
Superfamily |
Apoidea (bees and apoid wasps) |
Epifamily |
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Family |
Megachilidae (mason, leafcutter, carder, and resin bees) |
Subfamily |
Megachilinae |
Tribe |
Anthidiini |
Genus |
Anthidium (wool carder bees) |
Subgenus |
Anthidium |
Subordinate Taxa |
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European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum ssp. manicatum) wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum ssp. barbarum) wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum ssp. gribodoi) wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum ssp. hissaricum) |
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Synonyms |
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Anthidium barbarum Anthidium maculatum Anthidium manicatum ssp. cyrenaica Anthidium manicatum ssp. fasciatum Anthidium manicatum ssp. luteus Anthidium manicatum ssp. nasicolle Anthidium manicatum ssp. nigrithorax Anthidium manicatum ssp. subcrenulata Anthidium marginatum Anthidium obtusatum Anthidium productum Anthidium subcrenulatum Apis amoenita Apis fulvipes Apis maculata Apis manicata Apis modesta Apis pervigil Apis uncata |
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Common Names |
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European wool carder bee (U.S.A.) wool carder bee (UK) |
Glossary
Clypeus
On insects, a hardened plate on the face above the upper lip (labrum).
Costal margin
The leading edge of the forewing of insects.
Femur
On insects and arachnids, the third, largest, most robust segment of the leg, coming immediately before the tibia. On humans, the thigh bone.
Scopa
A brush-like tuft of hairs on the legs or underside of the abdomen of a bee used to collect pollen.
Scutum
The forward (anterior) portion of the middle segment of the thorax (mesonotum) in insects and some arachnids.
Stigma
In plants, the portion of the female part of the flower that is receptive to pollen. In Lepidoptera, an area of specialized scent scales on the forewing of some skippers, hairstreaks, and moths. In other insects, a thickened, dark, or opaque cell on the leading edge of the wing.
Tergite
The upper (dorsal), hardened plate on a segment of the thorax or abdomen of an arthropod or myriapod.
Tibia
The fourth segment of an insect leg, after the femur and before the tarsus (foot). The fifth segment of a spider leg or palp.
Vertex
The upper surface of an insect’s head.
Visitor Photos |
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Babette Kis |
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European wool-carder bee Anthidium manicatum, European wool-carder bee, on motherwort flowers. Photographed on June 16, 2024 at Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI. |
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Other Videos |
The Common Woolcarder Bee (Anthidium manicatum) |
About
Oct 18, 2022 Video on characteristic traits, nesting biology and mating behavior of the Common Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium manicatum) |
EUROPEAN WOOLCARDER BEE, Anthidium manicatum , foraging |
About
Mar 1, 2020 EUROPEAN WOOLCARDER BEE, Anthidium manicatum , foraging. Chicago. 8/27/2019 |
Wool Carder Bees Anthidium manicatum |
About
Jul 5, 2015 Wool Carder Bees Anthidium manicatum are shown feeding and grooming. The larger males are fiercely territorial and they will see off any rivals whilst searching for prospective mates. |
Wool Carder Bee Anthidium manicatum Buckfastleigh, Devon 1July 2022 |
About
Feb 20, 2023 Male Wool Carder Bees Anthidium manicatum have territories around a patch of flowers, in this case Lambs Ear Stachys lanata. They are armed with thick spikes on their tails and will use these to attack any other bees that come to the flowers including large bumblebees. The only bees allowed are the female Wool Carders. The male mates with any females that enter his territory, they are guaranteed a supply of nectar and pollen that he has defended. The females also collect the woolly hairs from the leaves to construct their nests. |
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Babette Kis |
Location: Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI Anthidium manicatum, European wool-carder bee, on motherwort flowers. Photographed on June 16, 2024 at Barnes Prairie, Racine Co., WI. |
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Created: 12/15/2024 Last Updated: © MinnesotaSeasons.com. All rights reserved. |