Animal

Sweat bee

Halictidae (family)

Also known as: Halictid bees

Small native bees in the family Halictidae, ~500 species in North America. Named for some species' attraction to human perspiration — they land on people for the salts. Many are strikingly metallic green, blue, or coppery; others are dark and inconspicuous. Range from solitary to communal to primitively social — Halictidae span the entire range of bee social behavior, making them important models in bee evolutionary biology. Major pollinators of native wildflowers and crops; their small size lets them work flowers honeybees can't access.

Biology

Sweat bees are typically small (3–10mm) — smaller than honeybees, often as small as a grain of rice. Many genera are striking:

Agapostemon — brilliant metallic green; one of the most-conspicuous garden bees
Augochlora — vivid green or coppery
Halictus — dark with thin pale stripes; [[honeybee|honeybee]]-sized but slimmer
Lasioglossum — small, dark, inconspicuous; the largest single bee genus in North America (~280+ species)

Halictidae are unique in spanning the full social spectrum:

Solitary — most species; single females independent
Communal — multiple females sharing a single nest entrance, but each provisioning her own cells
Semi-social — small groups with division of labor among same-generation females
Eusocial — multi-generation colonies with reproductive and worker castes (Halictus, Lasioglossum)

Some species switch between social and solitary depending on environmental conditions. This range makes Halictidae critical for understanding the evolution of bee sociality more broadly.

Why “sweat bee”

A subset of species — particularly Lasioglossum and Halictus — are attracted to human perspiration for the salts and amino acids. They land on skin, lick gently, and typically don’t sting unless trapped against the body. The attraction is mostly a midsummer-heat phenomenon and disappears in cooler conditions.

Pollination role

Sweat bees pollinate:

Asters and goldenrods (late-season; major sweat bee floral hosts)
Native wildflowers across the season
Many garden vegetables and herbs
Sunflowers — major [[sunflower|sunflower]] pollinators
Strawberries, blueberries, cucurbits — efficient small-bee pollinators

Their small size lets them visit flowers too small for honeybees and access pollen and nectar honeybees can’t reach.

How to host sweat bees

Leave bare or sparsely-vegetated soil patches — most are ground-nesters
Plant a long flowering season — early spring through hard frost
Tolerate them landing on you in summer — they don’t sting unless threatened

Sources

The Bees in Your Backyard, Wilson and Carril
USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab publications

Rooted in life.

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