Leafcutter Bees

We were out in the front yard the other evening talking to a neighbor, when I noticed that some of the rose bushes had circles or semi-circles cut out of the leaves.

Cut Leaves

I told Cindy that I thought we had a grasshopper at work chewing up the leaves again, but she identified the distinctive circles as the work of Leafcutter Bees, (Megachile).

Leafcutter bees don't eat the leaves; they cut these circles for material to line their nests for their eggs.  They seem to be pretty active right now, probably because they're raising a new generation of Leafcutters.

The damage they do to the leaves is minimal, since they're only taking what they need for the nests and not actually eating the leaves, so there's no need to do any kind of pest control.  In fact, as pollinators, they are important contributors to the overall health of the garden.