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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #383447
Research Project: Systematics of Hyper-Diverse Moth Superfamilies, with an Emphasis on Agricultural Pests, Invasive Species, Biological Control Agents, and Food Security

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: A Checklist of the Bees of Massachusetts (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila)

Author
item VEIT, MICHAEL - Retired Non ARS Employee
item ASCHER, JOHN - National University Of Singapore
item MILAM, JOAN - University Of Massachusetts
item MORRISON, FRED - Retired Non ARS Employee
item Goldstein, Paul

Submitted to: Journal of Kansas Entomological Society
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/17/2021
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: This paper examines over 100,000 specimen records of bees recorded from Massachusetts, including the results of recent years’ intensive sampling all over the state, which add almost 50 species to the state’s known fauna. In addition to presenting the checklist itself, the paper compares the fauna with that of neighboring states and evaluates the persistence of bee species based on historical occurrences. This paper is of interest to agriculturalists, agricultural entomologists, pollination biologists, and conservation biologists.

Technical Abstract: We present the first county-level checklist of the bees of Massachusetts, including verified records of 390 species. We review the literature and historical material, and supplemented these with recent collections and online image databases, compiling a dataset of over 100,000 records. Detailed accounts are provided for 47 species reported for the first time in Massachusetts, including six species reported for the first time in New England, and 49 other species noteworthy either for their paucity of records, distributional significance, novel host/parasite associations, or taxonomic uncertainty. The addition of most of the newly reported species is largely the result of increased bee surveys in the past 15 years, including targeted sampling on known host plants. Twenty-three species represented in collections prior to 2005 are absent from recently collected material. The richness of the Massachusetts bee fauna is compared to that of neighboring states. Sixteen of the approximately 40 exotic species recorded from North America are verified from Massachusetts. We report several interesting recent finds including the re-discovery of Andrena rehni Viereck, 1907 and the regionally rare Epeoloides pilosulus (Cresson, 1878), and systemic threats to bee populations are reviewed. Two new presumed host-parasite associations are made, those of Epeolus inornatus Onuferko, 2018 parasitizing the nests of Colletes banksi Swenk, 1908, and of Triepeolus obliteratus Graenicher, 1911 parasitizing the nests of Melissodes apicata Lovell and Cockerell, 1906.