For a guaranteed win on a bet, ask a friend, “How many bee species are there in Texas?”. The answer is astonishing – around 1,500. Almost all of these are native bees, with very few introduced species.
Our chapter’s resident native bee enthusiast, Carol Clark, in a recent presentation, said,
“Native bees are truly survivalists, whether they are big or small, colorful or bland, they must overcome many challenges. Daily they must prevail over natural hardships such as extremes of our weather, parasites, and predators, plus overcome anthropogenic challenges, including habitat loss and pesticides. But through their ingenuity and perseverance they are nature’s survivors.”
Perception is Not Reality
Texas’ native bees have too often been in the shadow of Honeybees, an introduced bee species. Honeybees attract the bulk of the public’s attention due to their honey production. In addition, the prevalence of Honeybees skews our general perception of bees and the belief that all bees have similar traits.
One of these misperceptions is on bees’ social life. We think of bees as communal, because of the behavior of Honeybees. However, most of our native bees are solitary. This leads us to another surprising difference; solitary bees do not defend their nest site. It is only communal bees that will protect their homes.
To Bee or Not to Bee
Identifying some bees can be confusing due to their general similarities to wasps, ants, and flies. Below are a few tips to help you identify the differences:
- Bees are usually hairier than wasps, ants, and flies
- Wasps have thinner waists
- Flies only have two wings; bees and wasps have four wings
Uber-pollinators
At the Native Plant Society of Texas, we rightly devote a great deal of attention to butterflies as important pollinators of native plants. But our native bees should not be overlooked in their importance to our local ecosystem. Native bees can be up to 200x more effective than Honeybees at pollinating.
Native Texas bees often prefer native flowers over non-native flowers for their sustenance. The insects fall broadly into two categories as pollinators:
Generalists
Many bees are in this category and are not fussy about the plants in which they gather pollen. They will pollinate a wide variety of plants. Below are some of the native North Central Texas plants that generalist bees favor:
- Texas Gayfeather (Liatris punctata)
- Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea)
- Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)
- Blue Wild Indigo (Baptisia australis)
Specialists
These bees have very particular needs and exhibit “floral fidelity”, using their adaptations to pollinate a single or narrow set of species. When a species is in bloom, they will forage only at that flowering plant. This behavior helps increase the plant’s genetic pool and seed production. Below are just a few pairings of our native bee specialists and native plants:
- Centris bees extract oils from the Ratany (Krameria lanceolata) and related flowers. The flower’s shape positions the bees precisely to extract the oils it needs from the plant. Without the bee, the Ratany does not reproduce.
- Springbeauty bees and our native Springbeauty (Claytonia virginica) plants have an exclusive relationship. The bees emerge in the cooler weather of February or March and work primarily at midday and in sunshine to harvest the Springbeauty’s pollen.
- The surprisingly named Winecup bee pair only with our native Winecup (Callirhoe involucrate) plant for their pollen.
While our native bees are of tough stock, their survival depends on the availability of native plants. Unfortunately, their numbers are in decline, and loss of native habitat is a major contributing factor. Including native Texas plants in your landscape is an important step you can take in helping ensure the survival of our native bees.
