These little mounds of dirt with pencil size holes in the center have begun appearing in our lawn. After considerable searching, I found information on ground bees, which assured me they're harmless, etc. Only problem that none of the ground bee photos match up with what we have. Can anyone identify this fellow? My sister-in-law is telling us we may need to call an exterminator, and we'd so much rather keep them.
This bee appears to be in the family Halictidae (see http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/image/31318829), which includes the ever friendly 'sweat bees.' Although most ground-nesting bees are in the families Andrenidae and Anthophoridae, there are ground-nesting halictids as well. These bees are beneficial pollinators, and should not be exterminated.
