Tag - mites

Dead bees are a common sight, but knowing the cause can be difficult.

parasites

We are still free of Tropilaelaps mites, but for how...

January 23, 2024

6 Comments

Bees and their queen on a honeycomb. Pixabay

bee biology • parasites

A mason bee covered in hairy-footed pollen mites

June 23, 2012

28 Comments

honey bee management • varroa mites

What history tells us about hive design and ventilation

July 28, 2011

40 Comments

English for beekeepers • varroa mites

The perils of spring for bees

April 24, 2011

9 Comments

diseases • parasites

Tropilaelaps clareae: another scary creature for bees

December 18, 2010

1 Comment

diseases • varroa mites

HopGuard: the new Varroa pesticide

November 11, 2010

9 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.