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Thanks Be to the Squash Bee
If you’re having pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin pie today (Thanksgiving), you can thank a squash bee.
The photos posted below are genus Peponapis, common name "squash bee." They emerge in mid- to late summer, nest in the ground, and are approximately half an inch in length. They're so tiny that you'll need a macro lens to capture their image.
A little bit about the squash bees:
- Squash bees are specialists; not generalists. Squash bees pollinate only the cucurbits or squash family, Cucurbitaceae, which includes pumpkins, squash, gourds and zucchini.
- Both the males and females are golden brown with a fuzzy yellow thorax. The males have a yellow spot on their face.
- Often you'll see a male or clusters of males sleeping in the flower in the afternoon and night.
- Squash bees are early risers (they rise before the sun does). They begin pollinating the blossoms as soon as they open in the morning. Other bee species, such as honey bees, don't visit the flowers so early. The squash blossoms close after several hours so there's a limited amount of pollination time.
So, as you're enjoying your pumpkin pie today, say "thank you" to the squash bee. They made it happen.
Squash bee inside pumpkin blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of the tiny squash bee, genus Peponapis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
These are the work of a squash bee: from left, a large gourd, a small pumpkin and a large pumpkin. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Applause for the Pollinators
Let's have a pause--and applause--for the pollinators.
Next week, June 18-24, is National Pollinator Week, as designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
That means, says Pollinator Partnership, that it's time to celebrate all our pollinators--the bees, the birds, the butterflies, the bats and the beetles. Those are just the B's. Don't forget the flies, particularly the syrphid or flower flies. And all the others, including ants, hawk moths, wasps, midges, thrips, carrion flies and fruit flies.
Pollinator Partnership officials remind us that pollinators "are responsible for pollinating nearly one-third of every bite of food we eat." And, "the global value of crops pollinated by bees is estimated to be nearly $217 billion."
What they want you to do is S.H.A.R.E., which stands for Every landscape can Simply Have Areas Reserved for the Environment. The idea is that when you plant for pollinators, everyone benefits: plants, pollinators, and people.
Take a look in your garden or a nearby garden. What's pollinating your ornamentals, vegetables and fruits?
We took a look in our garden and spotted:
--a yellow-faced bumble bee pollinating an ornamental plant, a rock purslane
--a squash bee nestled in a squash blossom, and
--two honey bees battling it out for first rights to a pomegranate blossom.
Life is good.
ORNAMENTAL--A bumble bee visiting a rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
VEGETABLE--A squash bee nestled in a squash blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
FRUIT--Honey bees battling over a pomegranate blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Squash Blossom Special
Male squash bees know just where to sleep--inside a squash blossom.
If you're growing squash and you head out to your garden just after sunrise, you'll probably see the males fast asleep, waiting for visiting females to arrive.
They're native bees, specialist bees that forage in squash, zucchini, pumpkins and gourds. The females nest in the ground; the males sleep in the blossoms.
We recently spotted a male squash bee (Peponapis pruinosa) asleep in a squash blossom at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly demonstration garden next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis.
The squash bee thrust out his tongue for a sip of nectar and dew, and then darted from one squash blossom to another. His search for a mate proved fruitless that morning, but there's always tomorrow.
And meanwhile, a squash-blossom pillow to rest his head.
Male squash bee nestled inside a squash blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Male squash bee wide awake. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Close-up of tongue of male squash bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Yellow Blossom Special
They're up and at it long before the honey bees.
Before dawn breaks, you'll see the tiny bees gathering nectar and pollen in squash, pumpkins and other cucurbits.
They're squash bees (Peponapis pruinosa), sometimes called the plush bee. Unlike honey bees (which European colonists brought here in the 1600s), these are native pollinators. And unlike honey bees, these are solitary bees that nest underground. You'll find them from Quebec southward into Mexico.
Entomologists say they do a better job pollinating squash than the honey bees.
We'll take their word for it. Dozens of blossoms grace our sole squash plant, a yellow straightneck summer squash.
We bought the plant for a dollar, planted it in April, and already it has produced a dozen squash, thanks primarily to the little squash bees. Later in the morning, honey bees and carpenter bees gather where the squash bees have been.
It's our "yellow blossom special."
Squash Blossom
Close-up
