Non-honey bees

Bees belonging to the genus Colletes are solitary, usually nest in the ground and line their nests with a cellophane-like substance which is an evolutionary achievement of their family, Colletidae. This family was once considered the most “primitive” of bee families but genetic analyses showed quite the contrary – they should be placed on the top of bees’ phylogenetic tree.

And here you can see a portrait of Colletes fodiens. It specializes in collecting pollen from plants belonging to Asteraceae family.