Communal females burrowed in sunny soil with very little vegetation cover. Red, much smaller males swarmed over the female burrows the day after the females made their burrows to mate.
This one is for the bee.
Flower is here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/30200681#activity_identification_65531359
A small black noisy bee, taking a rolled up leaf larger than itself into a small hole in the wall.
Can’t remember the exact location, it was some roadside on St Martin
Meadow area; Little Belt foothills; elev. approx. 1683m
When I first saw this I assumed B. nevadensis, but it just looks a little different from what I’m used to seeing in that species. The next closest I’m getting is B. morrisoni - out of documented range though in predicted climatic suitability (Williams et al. 2014).
Color is a richer yellow, top of head yellow, u-shaped yellow with black below on t3. Tried zooming in on face but can’t quite tell cheek length to width ratio or clypeus pitting to distinguish from nevadensis. Maybe a more discerning eye can.