Agile longhorn bee

Agile longhorn bee is a medium-sized, hairy, ground-nesting bee. It occurs throughout the United States, southern Canada, and northern Mexico. It is found in grasslands, old fields, agricultural fields, and suburban areas. Adults have been recorded in the east as early as May and as late as November. All records from Minnesota are from mid-July to late September.

Agile longhorn bees apparently specialize in collecting pollen exclusively from sunflower plants.

Females are 7⁄16″ to ⅝″ (10.5 to 15.0 mm) in length. The body is robust and almost entirely black.

The head is as wide as the thorax and is densely covered with long, more or less erect, pale brownish-yellow or orangish hairs. The plate on the face (clypeus) is entirely black, is not lobed, and sticks out very slightly. Near the inner margin of each compound eye there is a row of stiff hairs that stick straight up. The top of the head is flat, not rounded, causing the simple eyes (ocelli) to bulge out. There is an obscure yellowish spot at the end of the jaws (mandibles). The antennae are black above, brownish yellow on the underside. They have 12 segments, a long scape at the base, a short pedicel, and a whip-like section (flagellum) with 10 segments (flagellomeres). The first flagellomere is less than half as long as the second.

The thorax is densely covered with long, more or less erect, pale brownish-yellow or orangish hairs. The small plate on each side above the base of the wing (tegula) is tapered on one side, giving it a tear-drop shape. This is a defining feature of the genus Melissodes, but it is hidden beneath long hairs and cannot be seen without scraping the hairs away.

The first abdominal segment (tergite) is covered with abundant, rather long, pale hairs. Tergites 2 through 4 have a yellowish band at the base. Tergite 5 is covered with long black hairs but has some long brownish-yellow hairs on each side.

The legs are black and hairy. The pollen-collecting hairs (scopa) on the fourth segment (tibia) of the hind leg are yellowish or orangish and are densely feather-like (plumose).

The wings are clear and whitish. The veins are orangish to brownish.

Female total length: 7⁄16″ to ⅝″ (10.5 to 15.0 mm)

Male total length: ⅜″ to ½″ (9 to 12 mm)

Grasslands, old fields, agricultural fields, and suburban areas

Mid-July to late September in Minnesota

Nectar and pollen, mostly from sunflowers