Anthidium manicatum is an introduced and invasive species of mason bee that is native to Europe, Asia, North Africa, but is now widespread globally (Hicks 2011). It is considered the world's most widespread unmanaged bee species (Hicks 2011). It was accidentally introduced into the United States at Ithaca, New York State in 1963 (
Hicks 2011,
Wikipedia 2012). It was first reported in Canada in 1983 in southern Ontario, and is now known from southern Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and British Columbia (Hicks 2011). In British Columbia, there is a collection record from Vancouver (2003), and a
photo record from 2012, also from Vancouver.
Wikipedia (2012) provides the following description of this species: "Anthidium manicatum is an Old World bee. It has a wingspan of approximately 20 millimetres (0.79 in), with a body length of about 11–13 mm (0.43–0.51 in) for females, and 14–17 mm (0.55–0.67 in) for males.[5] This bee is mostly black and yellow, with some orange fur. There are also some yellow markings present on the legs and sides of the abdomen.[4] The males are substantially larger than females."
This is a species of leaf-cutter bee or mason bee that is known to scrape or card hairs from plant leaves and use them to line their nests (Wikipedia 2012). "The carding of wool by this species of bee seems to be restricted to plants in the Lamiaceae (mint family) where the non-native Lamb’s Ears, Stachys byzantina K. Kock, is the common host." (Hicks 2011).
This species has exhibited rapid dispersal across North America. Hicks (2011) indicates that its presence may impact native bee fauna. He says: "The direct interference of native bee foraging is a concern as Pechuman (1967) and Comba et al. (1999) documented that native bumblebees were deterred from foraging by aggressive behavior of male Anthidium manicatum.
