Most bees in the Melitta genus live in Africa, Europe and Asia. Melitta melittoides is one of the few that has made it to North America. This one has clumps of pollen (orange) on its hind legs.

Acanthopus excellens is a little-known bee that lives in Brazil. It steals food from larger bees called Centris.

Found in the north-west US, these metallic green bees are a mystery. They are thought to nest deep in hard soil, and have been seen hanging around fermenting watermelons.

The flat-tailed leaf-cutter bee lives throughout North America. Members of the Megachile genus cut neat pieces from leaves and flower petals to help build their nests.

All the bees in the Coelioxys genus are cuckoo bees. These jet-black insects lay eggs in the nests of leaf-cutter bees, so their offspring can steal the food the leaf-cutters have collected for their young.

Hylaeus are unusual bees. They do not have any specialist pollen-carrying apparatus on their hind legs, and instead carry pollen in their crops.

Diphaglossa gayi is a whopping bee from Chile with an unusually long face. Sometimes called the giant relict bee, it is the only member of its genus.

Epeolus scutellaris is a parasite that lives in the nests of Colletes bees. These are known as plasterer bees or Cellophane bees because they smooth their nest walls with secretions that dry into a Cellophane-like substance.

The sunflower bee (Svastra obliqua) exists in two forms. One has pale bands of fur on its abdomen, while the other has a mostly dark abdomen. It has unusually chunky hind legs.

Andrena bees are commonly known as mining bees. The females dig tunnels into sandy soils to keep their eggs safe and warm over the winter.