Four-banded Nomia
Nomia tetrazonata
Inside a flower of the Desert Globe Mallow. 23 May 2015.
Halictidae -- Sweat Bee Family
This female bee was busy gathering pollen from Desert Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcia ambigua) in a xeriscape garden. After entering the bowl-shaped flower the bee circled the stamen column several times while pressing its abdomen against the anthers. Pollen is then gathered into the pollen baskets on the hind legs for transport back to its tunnel nests in the soil.