Six new types of bees found in Pennsylvania for the first time

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (WTAJ) — Nearly two years ago, a bee monitoring program conducted by Penn State University concluded and the results were finally published.

Between August 2021 and December 2022, PSU gathered 26 extensively trained volunteers, many master gardeners, and collected more than 9,000 bees across 31 Pennsylvania counties.

The results, published in July in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America , had scientists excited when they discovered six species of bees that had never been recorded in Pennsylvania.

The species include a large ground-nesting bee (Andrena duplicata), a honeybee (Nomada banksia), two leaf-cutting bees (Chelostoma campanularumb, Heriades truncorumb) and two sweat bees (Sphecodes davisiia, Sphecodes johnsoniia).

“More than 80% of flowering plants rely on pollinators like bees to reproduce,” Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said. “Apples, peaches, berries, pumpkins, grapes and many other high-value Pennsylvania crops depend on bees, as does our $4.1 billion nursery and landscaping industry. In so many of our communities, our jobs and livelihoods revolve around producing foods that rely on pollination. The data in this report illustrate the value of citizen science in making sure we can protect pollinators and produce food in the future.”

The group found 235 bee species across the state, according to the study. The data resulted in 662 county records, meaning a new species was reported, along with seven state records — bees never before recorded in the Commonwealth. The iNaturalist data resulted in 321 county records and two state records.

“This project showcases how Pennsylvanians are engaging in community science to serve their communities and the commonwealth,” Nash Turley, a postdoctoral scholar at Penn State and lead author on the study said. “The effectiveness of this collaboration suggests it could serve as a model for other programs to further develop volunteer-based opportunities and contribute to future efforts to better understand and protect our state’s biodiversity.”

According to psu.edu, the work was supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Act funds, a 2022 Specialty Crops Block Grant and a Science-To-Practice grant from the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State University.

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