Honey bee queens and workers are all female, male bees are called drones and they are relatively uncommon. The queen can choose when to lay eggs that will be workers or drones.
Honey bees can see a much broader range of vision than humans and they have the ability to see ultraviolet light! Many flowers look much different in UV and often have patterns we can't see.
In Pennsylvania there are over 400 species of bees, in the US there are over 4000.
A survey of the general public found that "only 14%
of people were able to guess within 1000 the actual number of bee species in the US" digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewconten…
With over 90 different crops relying on bees for their pollination services, we have to take a moment this week to thank a bee for the food on our tables. #PollinatorWeek2021 2/n
Here are a variety of crops that 50% or more of their yield is dependent on pollinators, we would probably not have these foods without our insect friends! #PollinatorWeek2021 3/n
For #PollinatorWeek2021 we’re excited to showcase some fun info about bee pollinators, especially ones we work with in the López-Uribe Lab. Today is all about squash bees!
A thread:
Squash bees are ground nesting solitary bees that pollinate plants in the genus Cucurbita, such as pumpkins, squash, zucchini, and other gourds.
Squash bees do look similar to honey bees but ecologically they are very different. Honey bees live in huge hives and squash bees are solitary. Here are tips to help you tell them apart