Native Bees

The most recognized of bee species surrounding us are the 'social' ones that live colonially: honeybees that originated in Europe, and our native bumblebees. The many other native species tend to be solitary, smaller, less conspicuous but numerous, and very important pollinators of all types of plants.

'Solitary' means that, unlike 'social' bees, they nest individually (if sometimes gregariously) and carry out their life functions without specialization of labor. Egg production in social bees is accomplished only by queens, the other females being sterile workers comprising the vast majority of the population. In solitary bees all the females are fertile, with ingenious techniques for nesting and propagation.

Bees exist on a spectrum of sociality, with honeybees by far the most developed in cooperative traits that allow them to store overwintering food supplies within protective architecture. Some eusocial species of native bees have developed partial or primitive capabilities in cooperative life. All these various types may be regarded as successful in their niches, not necessarily superior to one another.

Bees can of course identify and congregate around the characteristics of their own species. For human scientists interested in taxonomy the distinguishing features among some bee species can be difficult to discern without laboratory aids, which generally prove fatal to the collected specimen. Even good photographs are inadequate for determining identification down to the species level within some genera.

As a simple observer I've had to be content with not knowing exactly how many species of bees I've encountered at Halibut Point. With online help from the BugGuide experts I've been able to put names to representatives of about 30 categories. No doubt the number of local species is considerably greater, if specimens were brought to anatomical scrutiny under a microscope. Here is a sampling of creatures from each bee family in the wild.

APIDAE family - Cuckoo, Carpenter, Digger, Bumble, and Honey Bees

Ceratina sp. - Small Carpenter Bee 

This pith-chewing inhabitant of woody stems is a tiny relative of the Large Carpenter Bees that tunnel into your house's fascia boards and hover menacingly (but harmlessly) around their (your) domicile.

Nomada maculata  - Spotted Nomad

Nomad bees are wasp-like in appearance, which no doubt gives them a protective advantage. They are also called cuckoo bees because like cuckoo birds they enter the nest of a host and lay eggs there.  Upon hatching its larva steal resources that the host bee had intended for its own.

MEGACHILIDAE family - Leafcutter, Mason, and Resin Bees, and allies

Megachile inermis, Unarmed Leafcutter Bee

Leafcutter bees line each cell of their underground nests with precisely cut leaf fragments, maneuvered in place in the tight darkness and stuck together into a tiny package containing one egg and all the food the larva will need to grow into an adult.

ADRENIDAE family - Miner, Fairy, Allied Panurgine, and Oxaeine Bees

Andrena wilkella, Miner Bee

Miner bees dig burrows for nesting. They provision these with pollen collected on femoral scopal hairs, as is typical of most genera of bees, but are additionally capable of carrying it on their thorax.

COLLETIDAE family - Plasterer Bees & Yellow-faced Bees

Hylaeus modestus modestus - Eastern Modest Masked Bee

Yellow-faced bees are unusual in that they carry pollen mixed with nectar internally within their crop. The female spits up this liquefied nutrient into a nest cell she has carefully coated with silk embedded in polyester. When she has gathered enough food she lays an egg right in the provisions. She then closes up that cell and begins the next.

HALICTIDAE family - Sweat, Furrow, Nomiine, and Shortface Bees

Augochlora pura, Pure Green-Sweat Bee

Halictid species form an extremely diverse group that can vary greatly in appearance, with various colors and patterns, often metallic.

Sphecodes sp. - Blood Bee

Sphecodes comprise a genus of cuckoo bees parasitic on other bees' nests. Note that their legs are hairless. The adults consume nectar, but because they use other bees' provisions to feed their offspring they do not collect pollen.

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Research confirms the power of wild bees....This particular study reviewed the effect of wild pollinators on crop yields in forty-one crop systems all over the world. The authors found that fruit set increased in every one of those systems when they were visited by wild pollinators, but only fourteen percent of the systems showed significant increases in fruit set with honey bee visits....Part of the power of wild bees is their diversity. They fly at different times of the day. Some will fly in bad weather. They forage differently and contact the stigma differently. They carry pollen differently. If only one pollinator, like a honey bee, is available, it makes sense that it would not be as effective as a bunch of different kinds of bees.

Paige Emery, Our Native Bees, 2018.