Polyester Bee

Ever heard of a polyester bee?

We encountered a plasterer or "polyester" bee on a recent trip to Bodega Bay.

A female Colletes fulgidus longiplumosus, as identified by native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, was foraging on a seaside daisy (Erigeron) along a sandy cliff off Bodega Head, Sonoma County.

She was covered in pollen.

The common name, polyester bee (family Colletidae), refers to the cellophane-like polyester material females secrete to line their burrows, Thorp said. These bees, he noted, nest in the same cliff faces with Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana (a faux bumble bee), but do not have turrets. A polyester membrane “doggy door" guards the nest entrances.

Worldwide, there are more than 20,000 identified species of bees.

The polyester bee is one of them.