[Pollinator] [beemonitoring] Apis nearctica [1 Attachment]

[John S. Ascher]

It depends on what the meaning of the words "was/is" is and also on the
meaning of "North America."

The paper in question describes a native true (Apis) honey bee in what is
now Nevada in the Middle Miocene, but there is no evidence that these
persisted into the Pliocene much less the Pleistocene, so there was likely
a very long period of geologic time when there were no Apis in the New
World during which time our Recent native bee fauna and its floral hosts
assembled and evolved.

The authors point out other examples, notably gingkos and horses, of
organisms found in (native to) North America long ago that then
disappeared for a very long time subsequent to being introduced by humans.

There are native stingless honey bees in southern North America, i.e.
Mexico and Central America, but these are known from America North of
Mexico only from an fossils (the famous Cretotrigona prisca from New
Jersey).

The Western Honey Bee Apis mellifera must still be considered an exotic
species in the New World.

John


> Could the beemon or pollinator groups respond to whether this 2009 paper
> changes the previously held belief that there was/is no native honey bee
> to North America?
>
> Thank you for any feedback, thoughts, etc.
>
> Sandra
>
> Sandra J. Lary, Senior F&W Biologist
> USFWS-Ecological Services
> Gulf of Maine Coastal Program
> Falmouth Maine
> 207-781-8364, ext. 19
>
>
>


-- 
John S. Ascher, Ph.D.
Bee Database Project Manager
Division of Invertebrate Zoology
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West @ 79th St.
New York, NY 10024-5192
work phone: 212-496-3447
mobile phone: 917-407-0378