April 4, 20256 min readMeet the Fluffy, Funky and Fabulous Native Bees That Call the U.S. HomeScientists estimate there are about 4,000 species of native bees in the U.S.and theyre both cooler and ecologically more important than honeybeesBy Meghan Bartels edited by Andrea ThompsonA Martinapis luteicornis bee found in the desert in Cochise County, Arizona. Amanda Robinson//USGS Bee Lab via FlickrSpring has finally arrived in the U.S., bringing its bright spectacle of budding trees and migrating birds, along with more subtle but equally important changesamong them, the first emergence of native bees.But native bees doesnt actually include the insect most of us picture upon hearing the word bee. That yellow-and-black-striped, hive-living, honey-making critterformally Apis melliferahails from Europe. Farmers rely on these tiny imports as, essentially, livestock animals that pollinate food crops and produce honey. But their wild, native counterparts are something completely different.An Agapostemon sericeus found in Prince Georges County, Maryland. The genus Agapostemon is full of bright blue or green, metallic-looking bees that are classified as sweat bees, even though, unlike their relatives, they are not attracted to human sweat.Wayne Boo//USGS Bee Lab via FlickrOn supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Take the majority of what you know about honeybees and throw it away, says Sydney Shumar, a biologist and manager of the U.S. Geological Surveys Bee Lab. It does not apply to our native bee friends. To celebrate spring, Scientific American spoke with Shumar about North American native bee species variety, differences from honeybees and importance in their ecosystem.[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]Do I have this right that there are more than 4,000 native bee species in the U.S.? How is that number so big?The reason why there are so many native bees is you have all these different little things evolving to pollinate groups or species of plants. So they all have very different characteristics. When you look at pictures of our native bees, they look totally different than a honeybee, and you have huge ranges of color, size, how they collect pollen and how they nest.A Melissodes desponsa found in Maine. The species is closely associated with thistles and can be found across much of the eastern U.S. and Canada.Dejen Mengis/USGS Bee Lab via FlickrWhat are they like, and how do they live?There are no native bees in North America that live in a hive or produce honey. Most of them live in very small family units, or you could think of it as more like an apartment where you might have families aggregating together.If you go anywhere in the United States, you are bound to find some native bees. Sydney Shumar, biologistNone of them produce honey; none of them produce wax; none of them make big structures like you would think of with a honeybee. Some are stem-nesting; most of them are ground-nesting, so when youre walking around in the winter, you are walking on top of millions of ground-nesting bees that are just laying low until its time for them to come out with spring.Is this true even in cities? Do they have preferences or types of ground that they need?A lot of our native bees are specialists, so they do like a particular type of soil; we have a couple that particularly like sand. In cities and more urban areas, you have a lot of impervious surfaces, so that is going to make it harder for them. But if you have loose soil, if you have native plants, youre most likely going to find native bees.A Melitta eickworti found in Rockingham, Va. The species is a type of blunt-horn bee that specializes in pollenating deerberry shrubs.Erick Hernandez/USGS Bee Lab via FlickrAre there any U.S. ecosystems that dont have native bees, such as deserts or something?No, we worked on a project on xeric habitat, and when you think of xeric, you think of dry; you think of nothing blooming, just aridand the researchers caught hundredshundredsof bees. If you go anywhere in the United States, you are bound to find some native bees.Are there any species or groups that you find particularly cool?Besides all of them? I am very fond of this group thats called squash bees. Theyre medium-sized; theyre very cute and fluffy. But as youd guess, they are squash specialists. They come out super early in the morning; you have to get there at first light. And if you have squash plants, then you most likely have them. The scientific name of the most widespread species is Peponapis pruinosa, and youll find them just relaxing in the big squash bloom, usually early in the morning.An Osmia atriventris found in Washington County, Maryland. The species is also known as the Maine blueberry bee, named for its special talent for accessing blueberry pollen. Blueberry flowers store pollen behind special pores that the bees vibrate open.Brooke Alexander/USGS Bee Lab via FlickrYou mentioned that ground-nesting bees are underfoot all winter. What does a year in the life of a native bee look like?With more than 4,000 species, they are not all coming out at the same time. You have some that are very early in the season, when the first spring ephemerals [long-lived plants that are only briefly active above ground each year] come out. In Maryland, thats typically around April. And then as you get the different blooms, you have this continuing crescendo of bees coming out.A Bombus rufocinctus bumblebee found in Yellowstone National Park. The species is fairly common and can sport a wide varieties of different color patterns, such as the red patch on this example, earning B. rufocinctus the common name red-belted bumblebee.Colby Francoeur/USGS Bee Lab via FlickrTypically youre only seeing a really small snapshot of a bees life. For the majority of the time, bees are existing as eggs and as little larvae, and then theyre in this weird grub form underground. And then they emerge as what we think of as bees, and thats where they are finding food, finding a mate and then just continuing that cycle over again.Typically a bee is only out for maybe a month or two. They are kind of fragilethey have very thin wings; they have very thin antennaeand so when you catch one, you can kind of tell if its been out for a little while. It looks a little battered, and you can tell its been flying around and bumping into things and damaging its wings. Or if it looks very pristine, then you can kind of guess that its recently emerged or its a little bit fresher than some of the other bees that are out there.A sand-dwelling Augochloropsis sumptuosa found in the bootheel of Missouri.Orr Uzan-Tidhar and Grace Schilling/USGS Bee Lab via FlickrThe larvae and grub phasesdo those look really different from an adult?They look more grublike, more caterpillarlike. If you were to see one, you definitely would not guess that its a bee larva. A lot of our native bees are very tinybut theyre not baby bees. Baby bees actually dont look anything like the bees that we think of. They dont have the three-segmented body; they dont have six legs; they dont have wings; they dont have antennae.A Bombus affinis queen bumblebee found in Racine, Wis. The historical specimen was collected in 1965, before steep population declines led the so-called rusty patched bumblebee to be declared an endangered species in 2017.USGS Bee Lab via FlickrWith honeybees, we only see females out and about. Is that the same with native bees?With native bees, there are very seldom queensbumblebees are the exception.But there are males and females. You do typically find more females than males, but you dont have the queens or [male] drones or those differences unless you are talking about the bumblebees. In general, most females and males do look a little bit different within the same species. Under the microscope, for males, you typically have a little bit more coloration in the face or a little bit more coloration in general. And then they typically have longer antennae compared to females. And then the biggest difference of all is, even in native bees, females have a stinger and males do not.An Augochloropsis fulgida bee found in Lincoln County, West Virginia.USGS Bee Lab via FlickrCan humans get stung by them, then?Technically yes. Now, the stinger is completely different than a honeybees. It is not a barbed stinger, which means, one, its not as painful, and two, the native bee would not die after you get stung by it. Thats the mechanism that kills the honeybee: the barbed stinger gets embedded. [When the honeybee flies away, the stinger detaches, and the bee dies.]A lot of the time, if people are stung by native bees, its because they were handling themactively netting them or trying to grab them. A lot of times that happens with our bigger native bees: bumblebees, carpenter bees, things of that size. Everything else, they have such minuscule stingers that youre lucky if it even breaks the skin, much less gets through clothing.A Coelioxys novomexicana found in Californias Central Valley. The species is a parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of another group of bees called Megachile.Erick Hernandez/USGS Bee Lab via FlickrAlso, theyre not very territorial. The main reason why honeybees would sting you is because youre encroaching on the hive or they are resource-guarding honey or flowers. Because native bees dont really have a hive to protect and they also dont resource guard, youre a lot less likely to get in their way.What do we know about how native bees are doing?In general, native bee species are decliningand that is a result of habitat loss, use of pesticides, more rural areas becoming urbanized, more impervious surfaces, and the like.An Andrena obscuripennis bee collected in Georgia.USGS Bee Lab via FlickrIf someone wants to start paying more attention to native bees, how easy is it to start learning to identify native bees in their area?Bumblebees are the easiest to get started with, and theres tons of resources online. Theyre bigger, and typically how youre identifying them is based off the coloration of the hair on the back of the bee. So if one of them is just sitting on a flower, you can go up to it and with decent certainty know which one it is, depending on your region. In terms of the other groups, its hard. You definitely need a microscope and access to a reference collection where someone who is an expert has already identified some groups.An Anthophora affabilis bee found in Badlands National Park in South Dakota. The species is common and widespread in the western U.S.USGS Bee Lab via FlickrIs there anything people can do to help native bees around them?The most well-researched and documented way of trying to introduce native bees to your area is to plant their habitat and plant their food source. It doesnt have to be anything crazy. Native bees are tinytheyre really small. So even if you have an apartment, if you have a little garden area or if you have a pot, put some native plants in there, and I think youll be astounded at what you wind up seeing coming to visit.