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Bees and their queen on a honeycomb. Pixabay

apiary creatures

Who’s that sitting on my clothesline?

10 years ago

9 Comments

apiary creatures

What’s hopping on my bottom board?

10 years ago

7 Comments

Bees, like this honey bee, are both insects and animals. In fact, all insects are animals. David Cappaert.

bee biology

Are bees insects or animals or something else?

10 years ago

4 Comments

gardening for bees

Buy seeds, not ‘cides

11 years ago

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pesticides • rants

On entoms, pesticides, and human extinction

13 years ago

2 Comments

apiary creatures • photographs

Another denizen of the apiary

13 years ago

2 Comments

other pollinators • photographs • wild bees and native bees

Pollinators smile and say cheese

13 years ago

2 Comments

bee biology • photographs

Organized feet are a feat of nature

13 years ago

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other pollinators

Hover flies pollinate flowers and eat aphids

13 years ago

4 Comments

Sweat bees are usually small, dark, and quick. They are exceptional pollintors found throughout the Americas.

bee forage • photographs

Pollen-laden sweat bee in a buttercup

13 years ago

1 Comment

wild bees and native bees

Update to “Bumble bees are not just for...

13 years ago

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wild bees and native bees

Bumble bees are not just for killing

13 years ago

54 Comments

infrequently asked questions

Bees pollinate one-third of what? Do we really know?

13 years ago

29 Comments

wild bees and native bees

The Great Sunflower Project continues to grow

13 years ago

3 Comments

pollinator threats • wild bees and native bees

Ten ways to help the bees, starting today

13 years ago

4 Comments

bee forage • varietal honey

Honeydew: waste management in the insect world

13 years ago

1 Comment

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.