Tag - hibernation

wild bees and native bees

Why so many dead bumble bees?

October 16, 2016

30 Comments

A black and white early spring bumble bee on pink claytonia, a woodland plant. Rusty Burlew

wild bees and native bees

Where do bumble bees go in winter?

January 28, 2014

66 Comments

Bees and their queen on a honeycomb. Pixabay

wild bees and native bees

Do bumble bees hibernate or estivate?

October 4, 2013

7 Comments

A winter day with snow. Honey bees do not hibernte but keep active all winter long.

honey bee behavior • honey bee myths

Honey bees do not hibernate any time of year

November 22, 2010

2 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.