Tag - sweat bees

wild bees and native bees

Why do I see mining bees in September?

4 years ago

31 Comments

wild bees and native bees

Ground bees in a rooftop garden

6 years ago

6 Comments

wild bees and native bees

Metallic green bee

7 years ago

68 Comments

wild bees and native bees

A tiny pole dancer

7 years ago

5 Comments

wild bees and native bees

This bee seems to have Angelina lips

8 years ago

5 Comments

wild bees and native bees

Cuckoo sweat bee

8 years ago

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wild bees and native bees

Lekking for love

8 years ago

8 Comments

bees in the news • wild bees and native bees

Bees that bring a tear to your eye

9 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.

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!