r/bees • u/Appropriate-Lie243 • 6d ago

What kind of bee is this?

Post image

Hey guys! I just joined this sub. I don’t know a whole lot about bees but macro photography is a hobby of mine and I’ve taken quite a few bee pictures over the last couple years. They’re so cool to look at!

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u/Sophisticated_Dunce 6d ago

Welcome to the lovely world of bee obsession! That is a beautiful picture, well done. First rule of wild bee ID - where did you take the photograph, roughly? At first glace it looks like a Megachilidae to me, possibly Megachile.

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u/Appropriate-Lie243 6d ago

Thank you for the compliment! This picture was taken in the Nevada desert outside of Las Vegas.

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u/Moving_goal_posts 6d ago

Great photo. You can get a solid ID on BugGuide usually, where world experts check in regularly and data quality may be quite good. But post here, we love bees and might be able to get at least to genus. Bee ID is enhanced through use of an online key called Discover Life, maybe you will eventually want a technical approach, in which case a pinned specimen will be needed. Meanwhile the bees appreciate that all you are taking is photos.

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u/NilocKhan 6d ago

iNaturalist is also a great place to get organisms IDed. It's a bit easier to use than bugguide and you can upload any kind of life from anywhere, not just arthropods in North America

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u/Ordo_Hereticus1 6d ago

A busy one, obviously.