Tag - CCD

miscellaneous musings

Is the beekeeping bubble about to burst?

5 years ago

83 Comments

Demise of colony collapse disorder. Weak queens may be the real problem.

honey bee threats

The demise of colony collapse disorder

6 years ago

27 Comments

Bees and their queen on a honeycomb. Pixabay

honey bee threats

Too young for field work

8 years ago

8 Comments

absconding • diseases

Absconding or CCD?

11 years ago

56 Comments

pesticides • pollinator threats

Rachel Carson Forum: opening remarks

11 years ago

4 Comments

bees in the news • pollinator threats • video

Airtime for bees

11 years ago

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miscellaneous musings

Beekeepers come and go

11 years ago

5 Comments

bee habitat • diseases • miscellaneous musings • pollinator threats • wild bees and native bees

Native bees should not be managed like farm animals

13 years ago

3 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.

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!

Connecticut’s state insect is the European “praying” mantis. Although they are beneficial insects, they are not native to North America.