Animal

Native bees

Also known as: Wild bees, Solitary bees, Indigenous bees

The ~20,000+ native bee species worldwide (~4,000 in North America) — the original pollinators of every continent's native flora. Most are solitary: a single female builds a nest, lays eggs, provisions them with pollen, and dies before the next generation emerges. They do not produce honey, do not live in colonies, and typically do not sting (most are too small to penetrate human skin). Native bees pollinate the great majority of native plant species and many crops more efficiently per individual than honeybees. A square meter of healthy meadow may host 30+ native bee species; an industrial farm field hosts almost none.

What native bees are

Of approximately 20,000+ bee species globally, around 90% are solitary — a single female builds her own nest, provisions it with pollen and nectar, and lays eggs. She typically does not live to see her offspring emerge. There is no colony, no honey, no defended hive.

The remaining 10% — bumblebees, honeybees, some sweat bees, stingless bees — are social or semi-social to varying degrees. Honeybees are the most-social and most-recognizable to most people, but they represent a small fraction of bee diversity.

Major groups in North America

Bumblebees (Bombus, ~46 species in N. America) — large, fuzzy, colonial, capable of buzz-pollination; can fly in cool weather. See [[common-eastern-bumblebee]].
Mason bees (Osmia, ~140 species in N. America) — early spring; nest in cavities, seal cells with mud. Excellent fruit-tree pollinators. See [[mason-bee]].
Leafcutter bees (Megachile, ~140 species) — cut leaf disks to line their nests; major alfalfa pollinators. See [[leafcutter-bee]].
Mining bees (Andrena, ~450 species) — ground-nesting; spring-flying; willows, fruit trees, native shrubs. See [[mining-bee]].
Sweat bees (Halictidae, ~500 species) — small, often metallic green; sometimes drawn to human sweat for salt. See [[sweat-bee]].
Carpenter bees (Xylocopa, Ceratina) — tunnel into wood for nests; large solitary species. See [[eastern-carpenter-bee]].
Squash bees (Peponapis, Xenoglossa) — specialists on cucurbits; emerge with squash bloom; far more effective at pollinating squash than honeybees.
Plasterer bees (Colletidae) — ground or cavity nesters; use a cellophane-like secretion to line nests.

Why they matter

Pollination effectiveness — for many crops, native bees pollinate more efficiently per individual than honeybees. A [[mason-bee|mason bee]] pollinates an apple bloom 80× more efficiently than a [[honeybee|honeybee]]. A bumblebee buzz-pollinates a tomato; a honeybee cannot.
Resilience and redundancy — landscapes with many bee species are more reliably pollinated than landscapes dominated by one species
Native plant maintenance — many native plants evolved with specific native pollinators; honeybees alone are not always sufficient
Independence from migratory beekeeping — landscapes that support resident native pollinator populations don’t need to truck colonies in from elsewhere

How to support native bees

Plant flowering natives across the season — early-spring (willows, fruit trees), mid-spring through summer (milkweed, mountain mint, mints, asters), late-fall ([[goldenrod|goldenrod]], asters)
Leave bare ground — most native bees are ground-nesting; fully mulched gardens have no nest sites
Leave dead stems and brush — many cavity-nesting bees use hollow stems through winter
Avoid pesticides — neonicotinoids especially are catastrophic to native bees
Provide water — shallow dishes with stones for landing

Sources

The Bees in Your Backyard, Joseph Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril (Princeton, 2015)
100 Plants to Feed the Bees, The Xerces Society (Storey, 2016)
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation published materials

Rooted in life.

What links here, and how

Inbound connections from across the wiki, grouped by lens and by relationship. These appear automatically — every entity page declares what it links to, and that data populates here on the targets.

Scientific

subset of

Southeastern blueberry bee blueberry bees are highly-specialized native bees with floral specialization
Leafcutter bee leafcutter bees are among the ~140 Megachile species in North America
Mason bee mason bees are among the ~140 Osmia species native to North America — solitary cavity-nesters, early-spring pollinators
Mining bee the largest single native bee genus in North America at ~450 species; ground-nesting solitary specialists on early-spring flora
Squash bee squash bees are highly-specialized native bees — pollen and nectar specialists on cucurbits
Sweat bee sweat bees comprise ~500 species in North America in the family Halictidae

contrasts with

Honeybee honeybees are introduced; native bees are the original pollinators of North American flora — both are needed; native bees often pollinate more effectively than honeybees for many crops

7 inbound links · 3 outbound