Sweat bees (Halictidae) are a diverse, globally distributed family of ground-nesting short-tongued bees often recognized by their metallic coloration and tendency to be attracted to human perspiration. Lasioglossum nigripes is a small-to-medium ground-nesting sweat bee first discovered in 1841. Widespread across Western Eurasia—from the Mediterranean all the way into Central Asia—these insects are often referred to as “furrow bees” because females feature a distinct, tiny groove down the very tip of their abdomen.  While females are typically dark and hard to distinguish, males stand out with eye-catching reddish bands across the upper part of their abdomen. Mother bees work hard beneath the soil, digging underground tunnels and carving out individual nursery rooms where they pack tiny pollen-and-nectar balls for their growing babies. I encountered this charming little male buzzing peacefully in the garden of a friend’s house in southern Lebanon.