Archive - July 2018

varroa mites

Using oxalic acid vaporization when brood is present

3 years ago

58 Comments

7 min read

wild bees and native bees

Pink pollen and the mariposa lily

3 years ago

11 Comments

3 min read

pollination

How bees transfer pollen between flowers

3 years ago

21 Comments

14 min read

honey

Purple honey: the real thing from North Carolina

3 years ago

29 Comments

3 min read

bee forage

Lovage: a multipurpose pollinator plant

3 years ago

10 Comments

5 min read

wild bees and native bees

Anthophora terminalis: the orange-tipped wood digger bee

3 years ago

4 Comments

3 min read

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!