Wordless Wednesday: Male Leafcutter Bee

What are those things on that leafcutter bee’s front legs?

Pollen basket? Parasite?

Actually those are brushes that male leafcutter bees use during mating.

Have you seen them before?

Another view at BugGuide

Reference:

D. Wittmann and and B. Blochtein. (1995). Why males of leafcutter bees hold the females’ antennae with their front legs during mating. Apidologie 26: 181-196