The 'Lone' Bee
We know that most native bees are solitary creatures, being genetically hard-wired to be so. The female takes charge of building the nest and collecting pollen and nectar. After mating, the female digs a nest in sandy soil or in tree holes and brings in a lining made up of leaves, grass and flower petals. When the female has completed foraging and storing enough food, she lays a single egg in the nest and then seals the nest over. The eggs will develop into bees without further intervention. Interestingly, while the female bee makes many egg nests in her lifetime, her own life cycle will end before any of her eggs will hatch. She has done in her job in the propagation of the species.
When solitary bees emerge from their nests as adults they instinctively groom themselves and immediately go in search of nectar. Male bees emerge earlier than female bees and are attracted to flowering plants where they know they will find females for mating. Male bees die shortly after mating while female bees set out in search of a suitable nesting place.
Most people learned in school about the social system of honeybees and bumblebees. Hives have the resident egg-laying queen, male drone bees, and female worker bees. (the ones we mostly see at flowers). Other native wild bees do not have a social system because of their solitary existence.
It largely depends on the type of bee but there are two main preferred nesting sites: cavity nests and ground nests. Ground nesting bees like sweat bees (Halictids) and alkali bees (Andrenids) will dig out a hole in loose, sandy soil. In comparison cavity nesters use existing holes in trees or empty stems. The common types of these bees are leaf-cutter bees and orchard bees (Osmia).
When the nest has been built, the female then makes a series of egg cells each containing pollen and nectar as the food source. It requires much energy and time from the female bee as she makes numerous trips from the nest to forage for food sources sufficient to raise her young to maturity. The food is formed into a ball shape by the female on top of which she deposits one egg. The egg cell is then sealed off and the female goes on to repeat this process for all of her eggs. During this time of high activity the females are pollinating plants and cultivated crops with their frequent meal collections for the nest. After the nesting cycle is fully complete, the female goes on to mate again and build another nest.
When the eggs hatch, the tiny larvae eat the food that the female left behind in a ball within the nesting cell. The larvae grow and molt and eventually reach the pupa stage at which point they become adult bees. Solitary bee species spawn one to three generations in a year, depending on the species. When a bee has a single generation in a year, the larvae or pupae will spend the winter in the nest and then emerge the following year as an adult. In species that have multiple generations per year, the first generation will emerge into adults who will mate, forage and build a nest. The last generation of the season spends the winter as either larvae or pupae.
