Bug FAQCactus Bee
Diadasia rinconis · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Apidae
Cactus bees are tawny with either striped pale bands or pale-gold hairs on the abdomen. They live in the Sonoran Desert and feed almost exclusively on native cactus flowers, timing their life cycle to cactus blooming.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Adults are tawny; the abdomen may show pale stripes or be covered with pale-gold hairs. Female hind legs have dense pollen-collecting hairs and the forelegs bear long brushes; males often have elongated hind legs.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
In the Sonoran Desert they are called “cactus bee” because they rely on cactus flowers for food.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It feeds almost exclusively on several Sonoran Desert cactus species.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Its life cycle is synchronized with the flowering period of native cacti.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
It occurs in Central America and North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 9 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Kansas.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What does the cactus bee look like?
Adults are tawny with either pale-banded or pale-gold-haired abdomens, and females have dense pollen-collecting hairs on the hind legs and long brushes on the forelegs; males often have longer hind legs.
Source: Wikipedia
Where is the cactus bee found?
It is native to Central America and North America, especially the Sonoran Desert region.
Source: Wikipedia
What does the cactus bee eat?
It feeds almost exclusively on the flowers of native Sonoran Desert cacti.
Source: Wikipedia
When are cactus bees active?
Their activity follows the flowering season of the cacti they depend on.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Apidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diadasia_rinconis
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.