Calliopsis Cuckoo Nomad Bee

Holcopasites calliopsidis · Order: Hymenoptera · Family: Apidae

Also called: Eastern Furrowed-Cuckoo

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Calliopsis Cuckoo Nomad Bee
Photo: Peter Chen 2.0, CC BY

Holcopasites calliopsidis is a small cuckoo bee about 5 to 6 mm long. It occurs from Mexico up through Canada and lives as a cleptoparasite of the bee Calliopsis andreniformis.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Adults measure roughly five to six millimetres in length.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

It is a cleptoparasite that lays its eggs in the nests of Calliopsis andreniformis.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its range extends from Mexico northward to Canada.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 37 of 51 states and DC. Most records: New York, Kansas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Calliopsis Cuckoo Nomad Bee photo 2
Photo: James Kindt, CC BY
Calliopsis Cuckoo Nomad Bee photo 3
Photo: skitterbug, CC BY
Calliopsis Cuckoo Nomad Bee photo 4
Photo: Sheila S, CC BY
Calliopsis Cuckoo Nomad Bee photo 5
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0

Same family (Apidae)

Western Honey BeeWestern Honey BeeApis melliferaCan stingCommon Eastern Bumble BeeCommon Eastern Bumble BeeBombus impatiensCan stingEastern Carpenter BeeEastern Carpenter BeeXylocopa virginicaCan stingBrown-belted Bumble BeeBrown-belted Bumble BeeBombus griseocollisCommon Carder Bumble BeeCommon Carder Bumble BeeBombus pascuorumBuff-tailed Bumble BeeBuff-tailed Bumble BeeBombus terrestris

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holcopasites_calliopsidis

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.