Ground Bee

Facts about Ground Bee, The term ground bees is not a species of bees but just a general term that is used to refer to a specific kind of bees in different species that are known to live under the ground and make their nest in soil rather than the trees like other bees. There are quite a number of different ground bees such as the bumble bees. The ground bees that like to build their nest on the ground include; mining bees in the family Andrenidae, sweat bees that belong to the family Halictidae, and the digger bees in the family Anthoporidae.

Ground Bees Characteristics

The female ground bees prefer to excavate their nest in dry soil, and they mound the loose soil around their nest entrance. They then stock their nest with nectar and pollen for their offspring.

The ground bees are solitary kind. Every female ground bee will dig its own burrow, though it is possible to find a number of Ground Bee nests situated in a particular area if the conditions suits nesting. The males are often seen flying over these burrows as they patrol for their potential mates.

The ground bees are particularly very active in early spring. They are actually among the most peaceful type of bees around the world as they are not aggressive. At times you might not even notice the presence of these small bees.

Basically they dig in the soil to make nests for the queen bee. The queen bee gets inside and starts to build tunnels and also create more entries and exits just as a precaution. They will also create a number of horizontal chambers and tunnels in which they lay a single egg at each end.

As stated earlier, the Ground Bees are solitary and will not stay in the colony for a long time. As soon as the queen lays the eggs she moves away on their own, while the male stay around to play their role as mate partners.

In the spring a large population comes up from they ground as they hatch in spring.

Ground bees are generally good pollinators of vegetables and flowers, and are of the mellow kind. Basically, they do play a vital role for the farmers in terms of pollination.

Defense Mechanism of the Ground Bees

The ground bees are considered to be very mild and are not aggressive as there are no cases of attacks. Though it is rare a female ground bee can sting if threatened. The male ground bees of some species can behave aggressively when they are around the nests but they do not have stingers. The sweat bees are ground bees that have a habit of landing on people to lap the perspiration from the skin, and when it is squeezed it may sting in self-defense.
Bees fall in the classification of insects with six legs. Bees have five eyes; three tiny ocelli eyes and two compound eyes.
The Bees have four stages of life, Eggs, Larvae, Pupae and Full grown Bee.

The social bee type like the bumblebees are quite aggressive when defending their nests, it is advisable that one identifies them before acting. They like to use abandoned burrows rather than making a new one.

In controlling the ground bees pesticides are not recommended.

There are three types of bees in the bee hive, a Drone, Worker and the Queen. A worker bee will die if she uses her stinger.
The hind legs of the Bees carry pollen in them and it is called a pollen baskets. Pollen is the protein for which the baby bee needs to grow.
A Bee has two stomachs, the first stomach is for eating and the other stomach is specially designed for storing nectar collected from flowers and water, for making it possible to carry it back to the hive.