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BC Bee Atlas

BC Bee Atlas at a glance

 

  • 3 years as a pilot program

  • 45 Master Melittologists from across the province (Vancouver Island, Gulf Islands, Lower Mainland, Kamloops, Kelowna)

  • Over 750 volunteer hours of bee sampling and outreach

  • Over 2000 bee specimens and their associated plants sampled to date

  • Emerging data on bee species and plant hosts documented in the BC Bee Atlas database

Bee Atlas 2023 - the Bee Atlas is gathering steam

In 2023 season the BC Master Melittologists collected 1263 bee specimens! Preliminary identifications found more than 78 species, from 27 genera, foraging on 128 different plants. These specimens included specialist foragers, such as the snowberry bee (Dufourea holocyanea), and an undescribed Cuckoo bee associated with it.

Dufourea holocyanea Bob McDougall

Dufourea holocyanea Photo credit: Bob McDougall

Other findings

  • 12 species of leafcutter bees
  • 5 species of sweat bees
  • 15 species of bumble bees
  • Known introduced species as well as newly documented introduced species
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