[Pollinator] Eastern North America April Bee Collecting Targets

[Droege, Sam]

April's Eastern Bee Targets

See https://jarrodfowler.com/specialist_bees.html for more details as well as March's targets for those up North.

Mostly we are talking about Florida and the Mid-South here, but often these patterns will apply further north.

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Early Vaccinium Specialists - Andrena bradleyi, A. Carolina, Osmia virga.  These species are undersampled, but expect a good diversity of Andrena and other genera also on these shrubs.  We will save the deer and cranberry  groups of Vacciniums for the May targets.

Andrena distans - Geraniums, very much an under-collected species these days.   Are they still around?  Wild geraniums are, so get out there and look.

Andrena erythronii - Dog-toothed violets are often abundant, but this bee rarely shows up, or is it that we simply bypass sampling on Dog-toothed violets?

Andrena gardeneri - Found regularly on Packera (golden ragwort), but relatively few recent records, also please collect any Nomada in the area as Nomada seneciophila has only recently shown back up after many years of absence in collections.   It appears to be a specialist on A. gardener.

Andrena geranii - Hydrophyllum (waterleafs).  Again, not often now collected.  Spend more time in spring woodlands looking for bees please.

Phacelia specialists - Andrena lamelliterga (very few Eastern records right now), ditto A. phaceliae, Colletes willistoni, Hoplitis simplex (also found on Nemophila).  All these species are rarely recorded now in the East.  Perhaps more time collecting in the Appalachians will reveal more records.

Andrena ziziae  - Zizia! Golden Alexander.  Widely planted in urban gardens, but does its bee specialist friend also occur there?  Please look

Potentilla bees - Panurginus potentillae, Anderna ziziaeformis, A. melanochroa -  Tiny bees.  Oh, my, is there ever work to do here, every weedy lot (and your lawn, presuming your don't have lawn care) is covered in Cinquefoils, both native and non-native.  So, which of these plants supports the native bees.  Find out, you have plenty of time...(Hint, look in crappy areas with lots of bare soil)

Perdita floridensis - Southern/Floridian.  Listed as Ilex specialist (mostly likely the shruby group), but I know nothing about this species, so you are on your own.

Lyonia bees - Perdita novaeangliae , Colletes productus, Melitta melittoides.  All very rarely collected, perhaps just due to the fact that biologists spend too much time on their computers and not enough time looking at Lyonia...can they even identify Lyonia (sorry, being anti-sanguine there)

Opuntia bees - Melissodes mitchelli, Lithurgopsis gibbosa. Its hard to find big patches of prickly pear cacti these days, but there are still places in the southern sandhills and in the back dunes.  These are bees that must be sought out in deep sand only during cactus bloom.  I can guarantee that you will also find other good bees in those same places.

Colletes banksi - Ilex specialist...most likely in the winterberry group.

sam

Spring

To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

       - EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY





Be Kinder than Necessary

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