The solitary nature of this bee allows for a dual-strategy mating system which produces an evolutionarily stable state resistant to invading strategies.

[1] This bee is black and densely covered in a grey pubescence or fur on the dorsal side.

[5] The fur and dark colored exoskeleton allow the bees to survive the cold nights in the desert.

During the daytime, C. pallida are almost completely inactive, hiding in shade or in burrows to prevent overheating.

At the end of this tunnel, she will dig a 1 inch (2.5 cm) long vertical chamber where the egg will be laid.

The adult bee will then dig to the surface in late April or early May, and will live for about a month.

[7] Centris pallida typically feed on flowers that can withstand the hot temperatures of its habitat.

[9] The palo verde pollen is the most common, and it gives the bee bread a strong orange color.

[7] Due to the large expenditure of energy by males during hovering and/or patrolling, they must consume about 3.5 times their body weight in nectar each day.

When a male bee finds such a site, he will dig 1–2 centimeters through the soil by gnawing at the surface with his jaws and using his forelegs to remove dirt from the excavation.

Since patrollers are generally looking at the ground to find emergence areas, hoverers have less competition over escaped females.

Male bees that are away from emergence areas stake out flowering plants in the hope that virgin females will arrive seeking food.

Right before emerging from her burrow, a virgin female will release a scent that wafts up through the soil and is recognised by the males with their antennas.

Freshly-killed females have been buried to test whether sound also plays a part in male signaling.

In these tests, male bees still dug up the dead females, proving that pheromone signaling is the only pathway.

What is interesting is that every day (or even every several hours) the territory holder will abandon the area to establish a new zone.

There is a lower limit to how small offspring can be, and thus, smaller females can’t make this reduction or increase in size in response to the environment.

[12] At night and during the heat of the day, C. pallida bees will hide under rocks, trees, in burrows, etc.

[11] Four varieties of bacteria have been found in the bee bread of the larva: Bacillus circulans, B. coagulans, B. firmus, and B. megaterium.

Together, these four species were able to hydrolyze starch, ferment glucose, convert nitrates to nitrites, and produce dihydroxyacetone from glycerol.

To prevent overheating, C. pallida have a very high thoracic conductance (rate of heat transfer from the thorax to the abdomen) which is 45 percent higher than that of sphinx moths of the same size.

Other than this high thoracic conductance, no other mechanism has been found to help the bee reduce its internal temperature.

[14] The tunneling ability of these bees aerates the soil, and this allows water from rain to reach plant roots quickly.

If an area has a large density of burrowing females, then these mounds can be quite noticeable and are difficult to get rid of.