The Northeast contains an amazing diversity of bees. In fact, there are roughly twice as many bee species in the region as there are bird species that breed here…
Bee Diversity
All photos in this feature article are of bees found in New England.
Check out this iNaturalist project here that tracks all submitted observations of bees in New England…see which ones have been documented near where you live!
Bicolored Striped Sweat Bee (by skitterbug)
There are over 20,000 bee species worldwide, and about 4,000 of those are found in North America. There are approximately 400 bee species in New England!
Pruinose Squash Bee (by Bernie Paquette )
Bees and other pollinators play an incredibly important role in our food systems. They are responsible for approximately one-third of the food that we eat!
Common Eastern Bumble Bee (by bdagley)
When they visit flowers for pollen or nectar, pollen often sticks to their hairs. Pollen is a powdery substance that contains the male sperm cells of a flowering plant.
Pollen covered bee (by David Morris )
When they later visit the same type of flower, the pollen is transferred to that flower's stigma. The stigma is the female part of flowering plants. This results in fertilization, including the production of seeds and fruits.
Two-Spotted Longhorn Bee (by Eamon Corbett)
There is an impressive amount of diversity among the ~400 bee species that exist in New England. They have a wide range of appearances, and their nesting strategies are also diverse.
Eastern Carpenter Bee (by Judy Gallagher)
The smallest bees in the region are less than 1/4” long and the largest, the Eastern Carpenter Bee, is ~1 in. long. The queens of several bumble bee species in the region also get to be about 1 in. long as well.
Northeastern Sweat Bee (by Betsy Lambert)
Bees in the region vary across an impressive range of colors. The most common colors are yellows, black, and browns. But there are also oranges, reds, grays, and vibrant metallic greens, among others.
Denticulate Longhorn Bee (by heatherelle)
Almost all bee species have hair, which helps to trap or collect pollen. The amount and location of hairs varies considerably among species in the Northeast.
Sculptured Resin Bee (by Louise Woodrich)
Most bee species are “solitary bees”. Solitary bees follow a life history where the female establishes her nest and supplies food for her young all by herself.
Rufous-backed Cellophane Bee (by Matt Pelikan)
Solitary bees nest most commonly by digging burrows in the ground. These burrows can be anywhere between a few inches deep to as deep as 3 to 4 feet!
Pure Green Sweat Bee (by Judy Gallagher)
Solitary bees nest in many places, like rock crevices, plant stems, and decaying wood. They also use abandoned rodent holes, compost piles, and even snail shells, among other settings.
Solitary bee eggs in wood; note the pollen provided in each cell as food for the larvae post-hatching (by LukaBE)
These nests usually contain individual cells. Each cell holds an egg and has food for the larvae once they hatch. This food source is often pollen, and sometimes nectar as well.
Spring Beauty Miner (by Judy Gallagher)
Eggs are laid sometime in the spring or summer. Then, most commonly, the adult bees that result from these eggs emerge the following year.
Golden Northern Bumble Bee (by Amy Schnebelin)
Considerably less common are bees known as "social bees". Social bees live in colonies, typically with a queen, workers, and drones. Bumble bees and honeybees are the most well-known social bees.
Tricolored Bumble Bee (by rintzezelle)
A social bee colony typically has a single queen. She starts the colony and lays the eggs. She often organizes the colony using pheromones, which are chemical signals she releases.
Western Honey Bee (by Gianni Del Bufalo)
The workers have many roles. They care for the eggs and young, help build the nest/hive, go out to find food for the colony, and help protect the colony. The drones are male bees, whose primary role is to mate with queens.
Aster Mining Bee (by Matt Pelikan)
Among the ~400 bee species in New England, there is quite a diversity of different types. Some of the more common include:
Mining Bees: solitary; nest in burrows they dig in the ground
Carpenter Bees: solitary; look very similar to Bumble Bees; often burrow in human-made wooden structures
Viereck’s Sweat Bee (by Matt Pelikan)
Mason Bees: solitary; use mud, or similar substances, to construct their nests with
Cuckoo Bees: solitary; lay their eggs in the nests of other bees, relying on the host bee to provide feed for their larvae (similar to Cuckoo birds that lay their eggs in the nests of other birds)
Sweat Bees: most are solitary, some are social; attracted to human sweat, which is thought for the nutritional content of the salt in sweat
Flat-tailed Leafcutter Bee (by Mark Faherty)
Cellophane Bees: solitary; secrete a waterproof liquid that, when dries, looks similar to cellophane; is used to line the walls of their burrows
Masked Bees: solitary; often nest in pre-existing holes in wood, dead twigs, or plant stems
Leafcutter Bees: solitary; females chew off pieces of leaves and flower petals to line their nests with
Two-spotted Bumble Bee (by Bernie Paquette)
Bumble Bees: social; queens that were born the previous summer/fall, hibernate over the winter and then emerge in the Spring and start their colony
European Honey Bee: social; introduced to U.S. in late 1600’s; creates large colonies in cavities or man-made hives; single reproductive queen (who can live 2-5 years) with many workers and drones
Additional Bee-related Factoids:
Some bees, such as bumble bees, perform “buzz pollination”; in this, the bee vibrates its flight muscles while attached to a flower to loosen the pollen, which then makes it easier to collect.
Bumble bees are able to generate heat by vibrating the muscles that control their wings. This allows them to fly in relatively cold temperatures and, because of this, they can be found farther north and higher in elevation than many other bees.
Only female bees have a stinger. The stinger evolved from a modified egg-laying structure.
In general bees are much less likely to sting than wasps and hornets are. Wasps and hornets are much more aggressive than bees. For example, Yellow Jackets are a type of wasp and not a bee, which are often to blame for giving bees a mistaken bad reputation
Pollen is rich in protein, and other nutrients, and is therefore essential for larval growth; that is why pollen is the main source of food stored with eggs of solitary bees. Nectar is high in sugars, which is what gives bees the energy to fly, forage, and take care of their larvae, which is mainly what adult bees feed on.
Ways You Can Help Bees:
Mow less frequently throughout the spring and summer to allow for more native wildflowers for bees to feed from and collect pollen from. Check out this fascinating presentation here about this!
Don’t use herbicides or pesticides.
Plant native wildflowers and native flowering shrubs in your yard.
Leave large patches of leaves on the ground year-round which many bumble bee species hibernate within and underneath.
Submit photos you take of bees in your yard, while out on walks, hikes, etc. via iNaturalist. Scientists use these data to better understand the distribution of individual bee species, track when they are active throughout the year, and more.