Blueberry mason bee
Osmia ribifloris
The blueberry mason bee is a wild bee from western North America. It does not live in a big hive but on its own. It loves the flowers of manzanita bushes and Oregon grape, and it is a great helper for blueberry farmers.
Lives in
Western North America, from Oregon and California to Texas and northern Mexico
What does it eat?
It visits flowers for nectar and collects pollen, mostly from plants in the heather family like manzanita and blueberries.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Blueberry mason 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
It is a solitary bee. Each female makes her own little nest instead of sharing a hive.
2
Farmers sometimes use these bees to pollinate their blueberry fields, so the bushes grow lots of berries.
3
In the wild its favourite flowers are manzanita and Oregon grape.
you asked
Most asked questions about Blueberry mason bee
?Why is it called the blueberry bee?
Because it is very good at pollinating blueberry flowers, and farmers sometimes use it for that job.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Osmia ribifloris
- Group
- Bees and bumblebees
- Family
- Megachilidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Megachilidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Blueberry bee
Where the facts come from
- Osmia ribifloris (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 USDA Photo by Jack Dykinga. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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