Squash Bee
Peponapis pruinosa
Apidae · Eucerini
A specialist bee that exists because you grow zucchini. Squash bees pollinate squash, pumpkins, gourds, and cucumbers — often more effectively than honey bees do — and they will find your garden within a season if you plant cucurbits.
How to spot one.
Chunky, fuzzy, tan-and-black striped body (~0.5 inch)
Active at dawn — flying before most other bees are awake
Males sleep inside closed squash flowers overnight
Females have distinctive hairy hind legs for carrying dry cucurbit pollen
How it lives.
Solitary ground-nester. Females dig burrows in undisturbed soil, usually beneath or beside squash plants. Males patrol flowers at dawn looking for females; when the flowers close for the day, males often stay inside overnight.
The spec sheet.
- Type
- Bee
- Active
- July – September
- Native to NJ
- Yes
- Conservation status
- stable
- Family
- Apidae · Eucerini
What it needs.
Plants this species visits, feeds on, or depends on. Names in hydrangea link to the plant’s Field Guide entry.
Zucchini and summer squash
Primary pollinator
Winter squash and pumpkins
Primary pollinator
Cucumbers
Nectar source
Gourds
Primary pollinator
Not endangered, but locally sensitive to soil disturbance. No-till practices in vegetable gardens dramatically increase squash bee populations.
Rowan University Arboretum · Xerces Society · NC State Extension
Others in this group.
- BsBeeNative · NJ
Bumble Bees
Bombus spp.
Big, fuzzy, striped, social bees — the ones everyone recognizes. Bumble bees are the most efficient pollinators in New Jersey and the only bees here t…
- AsBeeNative · NJ
Mining Bees
Andrena spp.
The first bees on the wing each year. Mining bees are solitary ground-nesters that emerge in March and April — often while the ground is still cold —…
- OsBeeNative · NJ
Mason Bees
Osmia spp.
Small metallic blue-black solitary bees that pollinate spring fruit trees more efficiently than any other insect on the continent. One female mason be…