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Archive - August 2015

miscellaneous musings

Clearly a waste: the bee digestive system

5 years ago

16 Comments

predators

The blaming of the shrew

6 years ago

23 Comments

honey bee behavior

Smoke and bees: the effect of wildfires

6 years ago

22 Comments

neighbors

I’ll have the pollinator plate

6 years ago

4 Comments

guest posts

Guest post: A day in the world around me

6 years ago

3 Comments

comb honey • miscellaneous musings

Try-its: what worked and what didn’t

6 years ago

35 Comments

leafcutting bees

Cosmos: a multipurpose bee flower

6 years ago

16 Comments

honey production

Surplus secret: access holes with platforms

6 years ago

110 Comments

attracting wild pollinators

Autumn Joy beginning to bloom

6 years ago

6 Comments

postmortems & mysteries

Why won’t my bees store honey?

6 years ago

46 Comments

beeswax • how to

How to make a steam melter for beeswax

6 years ago

15 Comments

Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; “honeybee” is equivalent to “Johnsmith.”

—From Anatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass

The non-native European Honey Bee is the state insect of:

Arkansas
Georgia
Kansas
Louisiana
Maine
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
New Jersey
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Tennessee
Utah
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Not one native bee is a state insect. The closest relative of a North American native bee to make the list is the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, the state insect of New Mexico.

Update! Minnesota now has a state bee as well as a state insect. Bombus affinis, the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee, has been so honored. Good work, Minnesota!

Archive - August 2015

The week in photos

Clearly a waste: the bee digestive system

The blaming of the shrew

Smoke and bees: the effect of wildfires

Take the dog hive challenge

I’ll have the pollinator plate

Guest post: A day in the world around me

Try-its: what worked and what didn’t

Cosmos: a multipurpose bee flower

Surplus secret: access holes with platforms

Autumn Joy beginning to bloom

What crud is this?

Why won’t my bees store honey?

How to make a steam melter for beeswax