I love bugs. There is just something about them that is fascinating to me. I’m not sure what exactly it was that drew me in as a child. However, as an adult they still fascinate me. Maybe it is the otherness of them. Just their appearance alone is so different from humans with their antennae, compound eyes, and six legs. When you look closer at their life histories, you discover even more differences. Some differences perfect for the script of a horror movie. Maybe in some way I related to that otherness.
Butterflies: My first love
My first insect “love” was the woolly bear caterpillar (Pyrrharctia isabella J. E. Smith, 1797). I think I was about 5 when I discovered them. Everyone knows woolly bears with their orange and black bands. Many still try to predict winter severity based on the thickness of the bands (https://bugguide.net/node/view/539). I used to love to pick them up and let them crawl on me. I still do.
I eventually moved onto butterflies. I admired their grace and beauty. I was always described as the proverbial bull in a china shop, so I longed for the dainty gracefulness of the butterfly. As I got older, it extended to their freedom to flit away on a whim.
While I took my love of butterflies with me to university to study entomology, it was a Japanese Beetle (Popillia japonica Newman, 1841; https://bugguide.net/node/view/473) that showed me the way there. I struggled with choosing a career path. I had never imagined playing with bugs could be a career. Not until my mom saw me playing with a Japanese Beetle and asked me why not do that. Entomology has been my career path ever since.
As an undergrad I immersed myself in entomology. I worked as a student worker in one of the labs, so I spent a lot of time in the Entomology Department when I wasn’t in class. My first research project was a phenology study of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus, 1758); https://bugguide.net/node/view/540), which lead to my first publication.
Native Bees: My passion
When I left for graduate school, I assumed I would continue studying Lepidoptera, the insect order containing butterflies and moths. It just made sense given my love of both butterflies and woolly bear caterpillars. I was given a choice of two projects in different habitats. I have a phobia of snakes, so naturally I picked the less snaky habitat of the two choices. That project meant I would look at pollinators of this habitat. Let’s face it, butterflies are beautiful and they do pollinate. However, they are not the most important pollinators. It quickly became evident that what we really needed to focus on was the native bees. And, just like that, bees became my sole focus. I’ll always love butterflies, but bees are my passion.
Bees are so diverse. Most people only know honey bees (Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758), and assume that all bees are just like them. However, honey bees are more of the exception than the rule. While honey bees are fascinating in their own way, they are domesticated and well researched. As I already stated, wild native bees are so diverse and most are nothing like their domesticated cousin. Also, we know very little about the biology of many of them. Because of this, I tend to direct my attention solely to our amazing wild native bees.
Globally, there are more than 20,000 species of bees with more than 4,000 species of bees in the United States. Most species are solitary and nest in the ground. However, some species can be social, semi-social, or communal. Some bees will nest in cavities and plant stems. Some bee species will collect pollen from any plants available. These are called generalist or polylectic species. Others will only collect pollen from a narrow range of plants. These are called specialists or oligolectic species. There are also species that will collect oils from plants and species that will collect fibers from plants. And, there are species who don’t build nests or collect pollen. These are called cleptoparasites. They will instead sneak into the nests of other bees and lay their eggs in the nest cells.
I promise this won’t be my only post on bees. I hope to highlight some of these fascinating creatures. I’m going to leave you today with one of my favorites: the alkali bee, Nomia melanderi Cockerell, 1906 (https://bugguide.net/node/view/508715). I love their iridescent abdomenal bands. I don’t have any pictures of this beautiful bee, so please check out the link I posted above. This species is known for being the only successfully managed solitary, ground nesting bee in the world. In the Touchet Valley in eastern Washington, alfalfa growers manage beds of silty soils for these bees. Because this species nests gregariously, these nesting beds can be quite densely populated. Due their economic importance, Walla Walla County, where the Touchet Valley is located, has enacted ordinances on honey bee density. They also have posted speed limits to reduce bee mortality from passing traffic (https://www.opb.org/news/article/nw-native-bees-alfalfa-farmers/)
If you are in Washington State and wish to help catalog the bees, be sure to check out the Washington Bee Atlas: https://agr.wa.gov/departments/insects-pests-and-weeds/insects/apiary-pollinators/pollinator-health/bee-atlas
If you are in Oregon, you can check out the Oregon Bee Atlas: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/bee-atlas
If you’d like to know more about bees, I highly recommend checking out these resources:
Cane JH (2023) The extraordinary alkali bee, Nomia melanderi (Halictidae), the world’s only intensively managed ground-nesting bee. Annual Review of Entomology 69:99-116. (https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-ento-020623-013716)
Carril OM, Wilson JS (2021) Common bees of eastern North America. Princeton University Press (https://www.amazon.com/Common-Eastern-America-Princeton-Guides/dp/0691175497/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2UBE1FFF7AV0R&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.2y3IBEQ42sLZaGxKjo9p0_f5v0xpDh3bpDadsDG0BIwER01wq-iUA6_qnHoMHfFSSFKYi55d4p_1e4vtG_1XcQ.b_WofFK6brvgM5b-prA4e-S4Qs2RIRMXuwyzeiy4_j4&dib_tag=se&keywords=olivia+carril&qid=1709504966&sprefix=olivia+carril%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-3)
Carril OM, Wilson JS (2023) Common bees of western North America. Princeton University Press (https://www.amazon.com/Common-Western-America-Princeton-Guides/dp/0691175500/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2UBE1FFF7AV0R&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.2y3IBEQ42sLZaGxKjo9p0_f5v0xpDh3bpDadsDG0BIwER01wq-iUA6_qnHoMHfFSSFKYi55d4p_1e4vtG_1XcQ.b_WofFK6brvgM5b-prA4e-S4Qs2RIRMXuwyzeiy4_j4&dib_tag=se&keywords=olivia+carril&qid=1709504966&sprefix=olivia+carril%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-1)
Michener CD (2007) The Bee of the World. John Hopkins University Press (https://www.amazon.com/Bees-World-Charles-D-Michener/dp/0801885736/ref=sr_1_4?crid=QOJ9USMY6INY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XV6JBtoiMm4JxyqtDRb1GAIzrOYHRqZ9lkSvYKO4MPIgELrMGbB2H5dXBMQdpHJogUPNW4WpK_DiuoC2-tlXSKP-_MEbr2HueT4qzcqwWT5DSpGStXfd0nohwwzmYIAu8CiyIcGSMddwNgrahYi4CQost_ZfPPnCVpGE4TnKU3GeP6AnxhGw4jOyX4mwfCo_pmeBBZSd7UKaptDlidmqjrOPw9Bm13Di92MdQJQrX2g.VtEnXNTngbSS9L0xoZxzw8N8eP2hdvtaes0mOKs6NV4&dib_tag=se&keywords=bees+of+the+world&qid=1709504895&sprefix=bees+of+the+worl%2Caps%2C200&sr=8-4)
Packer L (2022) Bee of the World: A guide to every family. Princeton University Press (https://www.amazon.com/Bees-World-Guide-Every-Family/dp/0691226628/ref=sr_1_1?crid=QOJ9USMY6INY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.XV6JBtoiMm4JxyqtDRb1GAIzrOYHRqZ9lkSvYKO4MPIgELrMGbB2H5dXBMQdpHJogUPNW4WpK_DiuoC2-tlXSKP-_MEbr2HueT4qzcqwWT5DSpGStXfd0nohwwzmYIAu8CiyIcGSMddwNgrahYi4CQost_ZfPPnCVpGE4TnKU3GeP6AnxhGw4jOyX4mwfCo_pmeBBZSd7UKaptDlidmqjrOPw9Bm13Di92MdQJQrX2g.VtEnXNTngbSS9L0xoZxzw8N8eP2hdvtaes0mOKs6NV4&dib_tag=se&keywords=bees+of+the+world&qid=1709504895&sprefix=bees+of+the+worl%2Caps%2C200&sr=8-1)
Wilson JS, Carril OM (2016) The bees in your backyard. Princeton University Press (https://www.amazon.com/Bees-Your-Backyard-Guide-Americas/dp/0691160775/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2UBE1FFF7AV0R&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.2y3IBEQ42sLZaGxKjo9p0_f5v0xpDh3bpDadsDG0BIwER01wq-iUA6_qnHoMHfFSSFKYi55d4p_1e4vtG_1XcQ.b_WofFK6brvgM5b-prA4e-S4Qs2RIRMXuwyzeiy4_j4&dib_tag=se&keywords=olivia+carril&qid=1709504966&sprefix=olivia+carril%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-2)