You know the old saying bees in Utah…well, that’s not true! Utah has many species of bees that make our state one of the most bee-diverse areas in the United States!
There are 15 different types of bees in Utah. Read on to find out what kinds of bees in Utah live where you do, and be sure to click this link to learn more about these fascinating creatures and why they are so crucial to Utah’s ecosystem!
1. Bumblebee
Bumblebees are one of the most common types of bees in Utah and come from the family Apidae. They’re small, fuzzy, black-and-yellow striped with large, rounded bodies.
This type is also often mistaken for honeybees because they are similar in size and color.
However, bumblebees have a different type of sting that can’t penetrate the skin as deeply as a honeybee’s stinger can.
These insects are more aggressive than other bees found in Utah, such as sweat or solitary bees.Â
They eat flowers and plants’ nectar, but you won’t see them gathering pollen like honeybees. Instead, they buzz around plants searching for nectar and may cause a sting if threatened or attacked by predators.
2. European (Western) Honey Bee
European honey bees are a prevalent type of bee in Utah. They live near beehives and help pollinate plants by transferring pollen from one plant to another, which is necessary for fruit production and reproduction.
These bees often pollinate almond orchards and other crops because their colonies can grow very large.
The European honey bee is notable for its ability to produce many different types of honey with flavors that range from mild to intense, depending on the flowers they feed on.
These bees also make better honey than other bees because they store excess nectar in their hives as it’s collected from flowers, which helps when it comes to harvesting honey.
3. Large Carpenter Bee
Giant Carpenter Bees are one of Utah’s most easily recognizable types of bees. They have a dark, shiny abdomen and a black head. These bees can measure up to 1 inch long with a wingspan up to 2 inches wide.
The females also have an extra set of eyes on the top of their heads that can detect ultraviolet light and help them find flowers as they fly. If you want to see these fascinating creatures, head to your local garden center!
Most places carry certain species like bumblebees or honeybees. You’ll get a good look at their behavior when they drink water droplets from the flowers or the mineral-rich soil.
4. Small Carpenter Bee
Carpenter bees are a little more giant than honeybees. Their distinctive black and yellow banded abdomen gives them their name.
They are solitary bees that don’t make honey but pollinate plants by going from one flower to another with pollen on their backs.
These bees in Utah can cause some damage to homes when nesting inside the wood, but they are also important pollinators for plants like alfalfa and apples.
Because of this, many people encourage carpenter bee nests because they pollinate crops while never producing honey.
The only problem is if you want to get rid of these nests, you need to know how they are constructed so you can safely remove them without causing any more harm to your house.
5. Long-Horned Bee
Long-horned bees are the most common types of bees in Utah, and they can be found anywhere from sea level to the mountains. They have a distinctive long snout to collect nectar from flowers.
One way you might notice them is by their green or purple-tinted bodies, which signifies that they’ve been gathering pollen.
These bees will nest on tree limbs, shrubs, and fences near where they forage. It’s important to note that these bees don’t typically cause any problems for humans when nesting on structures like homes because their stingers aren’t strong enough to penetrate human skin.
6. Sweat Bee
The masked bee is a member of the Halictidae family, and they’re found throughout North America.
Masked bees are often confused with bumblebees but are not closely related. They’re usually light brown with black markings on their head, thorax, and abdomen.
Masked bees feed on pollen, nectar, and tree sap; they don’t make honey or gather pollen to eat later, like other bees in Utah.
They also don’t live in colonies like honeybees; instead, they nest individually or in small groups inside existing holes in trees or buildings.
7. Squash Bee
Squash bees (sometimes called squash and apple bees) are rare bees in Utah that make their homes by burrowing into the ground near squash and apple plants.
These tiny bees can be difficult to spot because they are so small, but sometimes you can see them flying around if you know what to look for.
The best way to tell if a bee is a squash bee is by looking at the coloration on its head.
Squash bees have orange hair on their heads, while most other types of bees have yellow or black hair.
If you’re lucky enough to spot one, remember that they are endangered, so please don’t get too close!
8. Masked Bee
Masked bees are a type of bee found in the Western United States. They often collect pollen from sagebrush, sunflowers, and lupine plants.
The masked bee gathers nectar from other flowers, including lilac, aster, goldenrod, and heather.
These types of bees in Utah are known for their shiny black body, yellow-orange head, and white markings on their wings.
Female masked bees can live up to three months, while males only live about two weeks.
Interestingly, these bees have very few hairs on their bodies, so they’re easy to pick up with your bare hands without getting stung.
9. Polyester Bee
Polyester bees are one of the most significant types of bees that you’ll find in the United States. They have dark hair and look like bumblebees but with a bit more slender body.
These are solitary bees, meaning they live alone without a colony, and they build their nests by chewing through leaves to create a series of holes.
The females then lay eggs inside these tunnels, where the larvae stay until they pupate and hatch as adults. There is only one generation of polyester bees per year.
What’s interesting about these bees in Utah is that they do not sting!
10. Masked Bee
Masked bees are social bees found only in the southwestern United States, including parts of southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas.
Masked bees are giant and black with white stripes on their abdomen. They are solitary types of bees in Utah that nest underground or inside hollow plant stems during the warmer months and aboveground during the winter.
Masked bees can be identified by their powerful jaws and tend to carry other insects’ dead bodies back to their nests.
These insects pollinate flowers with long tongues, such as dandelions, tomatoes, squash blossoms, tarragon, lavender, sunflowers, and sages.
Masked bees feed on nectar from plants like morning glory vines and tree sap from damaged trees.
11. Cuckoo Bee
Cuckoo bees are parasitic bees that lay their eggs inside the nests of other species, stealing the food meant for the young.
They’re named after cuckoos because they do the same thing to other bee species – laying their eggs in other animals‘ nests and letting them raise their offspring.
Cuckoo bees live on every continent except Antarctica, but some species are more common.
For example, there are over 400 different species of cuckoo bees living in North America and over 200 in Australia.
But not all cuckoo bees lay eggs in nests. Some form groups called cuckoo societies where all members work together to raise each other’s young.
12. Mason Bee
The Mason bee is one of the most common types of bees in Utah. This species was named for their tendency to make a home from abandoned or made mason jars.
However, this isn’t their only home-making technique.
They can also be found inside wood crevices, under eaves, and in other places where they can discover preexisting cavities close to a food source.
Mason bees are solitary bees, meaning they don’t have queens or worker bees. The males stay close to the nesting site, while females fly up to three miles looking for flowers and nectar before returning.
13. Leaf Cutter Bee
The leafcutter is a solitary bee that does not live in colonies. Leafcutter bees pollinate as they forage for pollen and nectar on flowers and leaves.
They use their mandibles to cut leaves from plants and carry them to the nest, where they will create a tunnel before lining it with an erythritol-based glue that hardens into a paper-like substance called propolis.
These types of bees in Utah will then chew the leaf into pieces before filling the tunnel with honey and laying eggs on top. The eggs hatch into larvae and eat the leaf bits before pupating and emerging as adults.
14. Miner Bee
Miner bees are small, solitary bees that nest underground and make their holes. Males are rarely seen, but females may fly over the ground, searching for a suitable nesting site.
Females nest close to other ground-nesting bees, such as Andrena, Hylaeus, Halictus, Lasioglossum, and Nomada.
The miner bee is also known as the pollen bee because its fuzzy body gathers pollen as it flies from flower to flower.
15. Carder Bee
Carder bees are one of the most common types of bees in Utah. They have light brown or tan stripes on their head and thorax, which helps them to blend into flowers.
They also have a small white dot on their forehead, which can be hard to see since it is so tiny.
Carder bees will land on flowers and use their back legs to brush pollen off onto other flowers they land on. This helps with pollination, essential for plants to grow and produce animal food.
