WORLD'S BEST MOM
They emerge in the spring here in the Northeast, around the same time as the earliest blossoms and in time for Mother’s Day, which suits because these small dark bees are the ultimate mothers, in fact they are the WORLD’S BEST MOM: the Ceratina bees.
Look for a slender bee- they can be a shiny metallic black in the sunlight- nectaring deeply in the early dandelions. They’re about half the size of a honey bee, and their rear end, which is called the bee’s abdomen, is tapered and slender, not rounded like the Osmia and Andrena, the other early spring bees.
Their name is easy to remember, because Sarah Palin was played by Tina Fey, Sarah/Tina = Ceratina. All we have to remember is to dress it up a little bit to make it near-rhyme with Carolina.
They are the WORLD”S BEST MOM because the backbreaking work and sacrifice of every Mom-giving birth, nurturing, the offspring- is taken to a whole new level by the Ceratina bees. During the spring the adult females establish a nest in a hollow twig. If the twig is split open these small relatives of the large Carpenter bee (Xylocopa) may use the exposed entrance in the side of the stem to nest thir young. Elderberry, Raspberry and Sumac are among their favorites.
They spend the spring and summer provisioning the nest- collecting pollen and nectar and placing an egg on the little bed of nourishment and then sealing off the chamber with the pith from the inside of the plant. The mother stays on the job through the season. Periodically she goes through the chambers, inspecting for parasites that might devour the provisions (and the egg). After each inspection she seals the chambers up again. At the end of the season she will wedge herself into the nest opening to insulate and protect the overwintering kiddos with her body, even after she dies.
That’s some next level mothering.
In the spring the first thing they do is push ole’ Mom out of the way to emerge, mate, and repeat the cycle all over again.
It is appropriate that there is a day set aside to celebrate Moms- those individuals who, across so many species, provide attentive care and nurturance and who selflessly focus on the well being of the generation that follows after them. Happy Mother’s Day to Moms everywhere!