My mother sent me a photo of this bee from a petunia flower in her garden not long after moving to Papamoa this past summer. I initially thought it was a hoverfly as I couldn’t see two pairs of wings (flies only have one pair). Some hover flies protect themselves from predators by mimicking wasps by having yellow and
Wool carders aren’t hive dwellers, but solitary bees that live in holes or cracks they find in wood or stems or in the ground. Who knows how it arrived here, but just like the exotic European honey bee, it has plenty of exotic flowers to feed on so it is likely to stay. It was first identified in New Zealand in Napier and Nelson in 2006 as the European wool carder bee or Anthidium manicatum, and now widespread throughout New Zealand, including Papamoa!
Wool Carder Bees The World's Best Gardening Blog
Maryland Biodiversity Project - Wool Carder Bee (Anthidium manicatum)
Carder Bees
European Wool Carder Bee - the new kid on the block – Colony
Wool Carder Bee Not the Terrorist Some Folks Think It Is - Entomology & Nematology News - ANR Blogs
European Wool Carder Bee – Bees with eeb
European wool carder bee, Other species detected, Pest insects and mites, Biosecurity
Anthidium manicatum - Wikipedia
Paul Leyland – Wool Carder Bee – Mark Avery
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European Carder Bees Do Like Snapdragons! - Bug Squad - ANR Blogs
Wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) - Bumblebee Conservation Trust