The bacterial community associated with the solitary resin bee Megachile tosticauda throughout its life cycle.

Unlike in eusocial bees where the identity, acquisition and function of symbiotic microbes is well understood, little is known about the relationships formed between solitary bees and bacteria. Assessing the potential role of microbes in solitary bee health is important, especially in the face of global bee declines. Early evidence suggests solitary bee microbiomes differ between bee species and development stages, but the reported bacteria are often indistinguishable from environmental taxa.

Blanking on blanks: few insect microbiota studies control for contaminants.

Research on insect-microbe relationships is booming, with DNA sequencing being the most commonly used method to describe insect microbiota. However, sequencing is vulnerable to contamination, especially when the sample has low microbial biomass. Such low-biomass samples are common across insect taxa, developmental stages, and tissue types.