random bee: Caupolicana - a fuzzy, rare cellophane bee named after a warrior

August 4, 2026

Welcome to 'random bee', a short writing series where I choose a random page in the book "Bees of the World: A Guide to Every Family" by Laurence Packer, then research it and do a short write up.

Today's random bee:

Genus: Caupolicana

Family: Colletidae

subfamily: Diphaglossinae

Caupolicana bee. Photo by Luis Flores Prado, laderasur.com

There are over 50 species in this genus. All are large and fuzzy bees from the southern half of the US, Mexico, and Central and Southern America, including some Caribbean islands. All are ground nesters with relatively shallow nests usually in sandy soil. The brood cells are oriented vertically, which is because females provide very liquid provisions - the orientation prevents the egg from sitting in the soup, probably.

These bees also line the nest cells with a cellophane like material that they produce from their mouth, and this also helps with waterproofing the cell and preventing the provision from evaporating. The provision also ferments a little bit, which is not uncommon in bee nests (do the larvae get drunk, I wonder?).

Includes some nocturnal species and many of them are crepuscular, or active at dawn and dusk, which is unusual for a bee.

The genus name apparently comes from an indigenous word, caupolicán, which means polished flint. It was also the name of a war leader of the Mapuche people from South America, Caupolicán who led a resistance against Spanish conquerers.

One species is the giant scrub plasterer bee Caupolicana floridana, which is found in Florida, USA, but it's incredibly rare and listed a species of conservation concern within the state. They are smaller than bumble bees and have dense yellow hair with a black abdomen. It was first described as a species in 2004 based on museum specimens.

The habitat this plasterer bee is found in - sandhills and pineland - are threatened ecosystems in FL usually disturbed by humans and often fragmented, so the bee is likely in danger. Their nests in FL can reach 3 feet in depth