#20 in the CAMPAIGN TO KNOW YOUR WILD BEES

While there is a lot of talk of bee decline,..

We know so very little about the actual status of bees that we may have species that need to be listed, but you can’t list something unless you know something about its status. I like to encourage people to submit photos of bees to BugGuide as well as to i-naturalist particularly if they start targeting uncommon plants and their visitors. Traditional collecting of bees for museums is even better. For example, yesterday, within a mile of the laboratory I was poking around and came across a large patch of deerberry and sure enough the very uncommonly recorded specialist (and most people very rare) species Panurginus atramontenis were all over the bloom. I easily could’ve caught over hundred. Just one example where poking around in the right place can yield big results. Bombus affinis is our one endangered species, a bumblebee, and therefore something that people have paid attention to over the years. As part of a larger syndrome of decline due to pathogens brought over from Europe the species is particularly hard-hit and largely restricted to the upper Midwest and Appalachia. Again, take pictures, submit them to Bumblebee Watch and to the other two places I mentioned and maybe we can find some additional specimens.