Belted orchid bee
Eulaema cingulata
The belted orchid bee is a big, chunky black bee with bright cream and orange bands around its body. It looks a lot like a bumblebee, but it is really an orchid bee. It has white markings on its face.
Lives in
From Mexico down to Brazil, in warm forests and also near towns and farms
What does it eat?
It drinks nectar from flowers and collects pollen.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Belted orchid bee about 22 km/h (14 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
People often mix it up with bumblebees because it is big and fuzzy with bright bands.
2
Unlike its close cousins, it has white marks on its face.
3
It can live high up in the mountains, as high as 2500 metres.
4
It also manages well in places that people have changed, like farms and the edges of towns.
you asked
Most asked questions about Belted orchid bee
?Is the belted orchid bee a bumblebee?
No. It looks like one, but it belongs to a different group called orchid bees.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Eulaema cingulata
- Group
- Bees and bumblebees
- Family
- Apidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Apidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Eulaema cingulata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Beckyhansis. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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