Gulf Coast Evening Bee

Hesperapis oraria, or Gulf Coast solitary bee is a rare species of bee in the family Melittidae. It was first described in 1997. The bee's current known range is on the barrier islands and coastal mainland secondary dunes on the Gulf Coast of the United States in Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. The Gulf Coast solitary bee is the only known member of its subfamily in the eastern United States, and it is a monolege of the coastal plain honeycomb head (Balduina angustifolia).