How many species of native bees are in the United States?
There are over 20,000 known bee species in the world, and 4,000 of them are native to the United States. They range from the tiny (2 mm) and solitary Perdita minima, known as the world’s smallest bee, to kumquat-sized species of carpenter bees. Our bees come in as many sizes, shapes, and colors as the flowers they pollinate. There is still much that we don't know about native bees—many are smaller than a grain of rice and about 10% of bees in the United States have yet to be named or described—but all of these bees have jobs as pollinators.
Native bees are the primary insect pollinator of agricultural plants in most of the country. Crops that they pollinate include squash, tomatoes, cherries, blueberries, and cranberries. Native bees were here long before European honeybees were brought to the country by settlers (honeybees are not native to North America). Honeybees are key to a few crops such as almonds and lemons, but native bees like the blue orchard bees are better and more efficient pollinators of many crops, including those plants that evolved in the Americas. Native bees are estimated to pollinate 80 percent of flowering plants around the world.
Many of our native wild and crop plants have sets of bees that are so specialized that they restrict their visits to those plants alone. The most important facet of bee conservation is the encouragement and retention of all of our flowering native plants.
Learn more:
- Pollinators
- USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Program
- USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab flickr site (public domain images)
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Flowering plants preferred by bees of the Prairie Pothole Region
Land managers have stressed the need for improved pollinator habitat on private and public lands of the Prairie Pothole Region. Understanding flowering plant preferences of pollinators will improve the cost-effectiveness of conservation seeding mixes. The purpose of this fact sheet is to assist conservation planners and producers with developing...
Simanonok, Stacy; Otto, Clint R. V.
Forage and habitat for pollinators in the northern Great Plains—Implications for U.S. Department of Agriculture conservation programs
Managed and wild pollinators are critical components of agricultural and natural systems. Despite the well-known value of insect pollinators to U.S. agriculture, Apis mellifera (Linnaeus, 1758; honey bees) and wild bees currently face numerous stressors that have resulted in declining health. These declines have engendered support for pollinator...
Otto, Clint R. V.; Smart, Autumn H.; Cornman, Robert S.; Simanonok, Michael; Iwanowicz, Deborah D.
Identification of bees in southwest Idaho—A guide for beginners
This document was prepared to help scientists and the public, both of whom may not be familiar with bee taxonomy, learn how to practically identify bees in sagebrush steppe and shrubland habitats in southwest Idaho. We provide information to identify bees to the level of family and genus. A tentative list of the bee genera captured at sites used...
Sun, Emily R.; Pilliod, David S.
National protocol framework for the inventory and monitoring of bees
This national protocol framework is a standardized tool for the inventory and monitoring of the approximately 4,200 species of native and non-native bee species that may be found within the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). However, this protocol framework may also be used by other...
Droege, Sam; Engler, Joseph D.; Sellers, Elizabeth A.; Lee O'Brien
It’s Pollinator Week!
Pollinators in the form of bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles provide vital but often invisible services, from supporting terrestrial wildlife and plant communities, to supporting healthy watersheds.
Test your bee and other pollinator knowledge!
It’s pollinator week and USGS is providing science to better understand the status of pollinator species. Here’s the chance to test your knowledge about bees and other pollinators, with our pollinator week quiz! And let us know on FB or Twitter how you did!
It’s National Pollinator Week! Get the buzz on USGS pollinator research
Bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles provide vital but often invisible pollination services that support terrestrial wildlife and plant communities, and healthy watersheds.
Pesticides, Pollinators, and Pestilence: Protecting Public Health and Pollinators
Tick and mosquito control provides important public health protection, but can also affect pollinator populations. The effects are often dependent on specific local conditions, such as how close the pesticide application is to places pollinators frequent, and when they frequent them.
The Buzz on Native Bees
Bees are nearly ubiquitous, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. Wherever there are insect-pollinated flowering plants — forest, farms, cities and wildlands — there are bees. And just because you don’t see plants blooming, does not mean that there are no bees around.
Melecta species, face, Park County, Wyoming, M
Fossil Butte National Monument, WyomingNote that friends at National Wildlife Federation have dubbed this species the Billy Idol Bee. Since it has no common name I hear-by declare this species' common name to be the Billy Idol MelectaNote, however, that all the bees in the genus Melecta are nest parasites
Augochloropsis metallica, F, Face, U
This bee is in your garden! Have you seen it? Collected on the Tomatoes in Francisco Posada's in Laurel, Maryland
Andrena nasonii, M, side, New York, Kings County
An abundant Andrena, often found in lawns and disturbed field like situations. The males are as generic as they come but have a tiny point coming out of their integument on either side of the underside of their thorax. Thank goodness. Photographer ... Erick Hernandez Photography Information: Canon Mark II 5D, Zerene Stacker, Stackshot Sled, 65mm Canon MP-E 1-5X macro
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Augochlorella aurata, back, Camden County, Georgia
Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia, Dark Purple/Blue form of this species that often occurs in coastal and Deep South situations
Svastra petulca, right
A lovely Deep South Svastra, S. petulca to be specific. A nice pollen shot. You can see the huge bushy pollen carrying hairs on its hind legs, designed to carry dry pollen unlike Honey Bees and Bumble Bees which mix their pollen with nectar. I am guessing it is some sort of composite given it is blow out orange and that Svastras are known to favor that family of plants
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Andrena fenningeri, F, Face 2, Bowie, Maryland
A very early spring bee, covered in pollen, collected by a homeowner in Bowie, Maryland, often found on maples
Anthophora affabilis, M, face, Pennington County, South Dakota
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Augochloropsis anonyma, M, side, Florida, Miami-Dade County
Biscayne National Park, male Florida, A Southeaster Bee of the deepest iridescence
Anthophora affabilis, F, back2, Pennington County, SD
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Halictus ligatus, F, face, Philidelphia, PA
Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, covered in pollen from an unknown plant
Halictus ligatus female on an oxeye daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum)
The center of the composite flower looks like a "landing zone" and has evolved to guide pollinators to its nectar/pollen.
