30x40

This painting is inspired from a picture sent to me by my friend Tim.

Solitary Gulf Coast Bee

Hesperapis oraria - A rare solitary, ground dwelling monolectic bee. 

Solitary - a single queen, does not nest together like many bees. 

Ground dwelling - nests are burrows tunneled several feet deep into the sand by the single female bee. These burrows are found within 500 yards of the gulf waters. 

Monolyetic - uses only a single species of flower, coastal plain honeycomb head (Balduina angustifolia) for both pollen and nectar. Adult Gulf Coast solitary bee activity coincides with the bloom of this pollen host in September and October, which is also prime hurricane season. 

Range - highly restricted. The bee's current known range is on the barrier islands and coastal mainland secondary dunes found from coastal MS, AL, and NW FL. 

Has not been documented in MS or AL since 1996. Surveying and monitoring in Florida, from 2020 to 2023 has documented the presence of Gulf Coast Solitary Bee from Pensacola - Ft Pickens; Navarre - Navarre Beach; Destin - Henderson Park; Santa Rosa Beach - Grayton Beach; and Panama City Beach - Camp Helen. Maybe a total of 10 municipal or state park areas.