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How does a person identify a bee?
Factors that can affect identification
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Foraging time and place --> the distance which bees travel to forage differs from species to species. Time of day impacts when some bees forage as well.
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Bee size --> some bees are very small (can be as little as 2mm long) and so can be very hard to spot
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Other bee-like insects --> drone flies and wasps can look very similar to bees. Male bees, cuckoo bees, and Hyleaus do not collect pollen, so it is possible to confuse these.
How to identify a bee
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General rule : Need at least two traits to make an identification
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For some species, dichotomous keys are gender specific. So, sex determination must be made first.
Sources:
These are less formal/academic sources, but are probably better geared for understanding citizen science/how the lay person approaches identification problems.