Native Bees

The United States has an amazing and diverse array of native bees. Across the country live about 4,000 native bee species — most of which are solitary and nest in the ground — coming in nearly every color of the rainbow and ranging widely in size. The country harbors 49 bumblebee species, which are social, relatively easy to identify, and among the best studied of all native bees. Native bees are some of the most effective pollinators because of their specialized hairs for collecting pollen and their wide-ranging foraging behavior. Native bee biodiversity is essential to ensuring the effective pollination of plants — especially wildflowers. Many plants have such special relationships with their bee pollinators that only certain bee species can pollinate them. Native bees, along with nonnative European honeybees, also significantly contribute to crop pollination.

Unfortunately, as detailed in the Center’s report Pollinators in Peril, 1 in 4 native bee species is at risk of extinction.

Native bees face a range of serious threats — from habitat loss to climate change to invasive and nonnative species — but pesticides are one of the gravest. Systemic insecticides like neonicotinoids are especially dangerous for pollinators because they spread throughout an entire plant, including the pollen and nectar. When bees eat neonicotinoid-poisoned pollen and nectar, they can die outright. Even in small doses, neonicotinoids harm bees in a variety of ways that can make it harder for them to survive.  Exposed bees become weak and disoriented, so they can’t find flowers or their nests, can’t fight off pathogens, and often aren’t able to eat enough.

The Center’s Environmental Health program is working to make sure native bees — and all imperiled plants and animals — are protected from pesticides. Keep reading to learn more about our work to protect native bees, plus facts about native pollinators and what you can do to help native pollinators in your own yard. You can also check out our press releases to learn

American Bumblebee

Once among the most common and widespread bumblebee species, the American bumblebee once thrived in open areas across the lower 48 states, except Washington. After the population started plunging in the 2000s, now this iconic species has disappeared from at least eight states and experienced severe decline across its remaining range.

Habitat loss, pesticide contamination, disease spillover from domesticated bee colonies, and other threats combine to accelerate the species’ decline.

The Center petitioned to protect the American bumblebee as an endangered species in 2021.

Southern Plains Bumblebee

This bumblebee species is native to the perennial grasslands and open woodlands of America’s Great Plains, Midwest and southeastern coastal plains.

The Southern Plains bumblebee has become twice as rare as other bees in recent decades as its habitats have degraded and disappeared. The species has vanished altogether from six states.

We petitioned to protect the Southern Plains bumblebee as an endangered species in 2022.

Mojave Poppy Bee

The tiny Mojave poppy bee is only known to live in seven sites in and around Nevada’s Lake Mead National Recreation Area. This bee is a poppy specialist, gathering pollen from the imperiled Las Vegas bear-poppy (which we have petitioned for) and the endangered dwarf bear-poppy.

Mojave poppy bees are threatened by gypsum mining, urbanization, off-road vehicles, grazing, and feral honey bees.

The Center petitioned to list Mojave poppy bees as an endangered species in 2018 and won a legal victory in 2022 to ensure they’re considered for protection.

Rusty Patched Bumblebee

The rusty patched bumblebee is the only native bee in the continental United States protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Habitat loss largely due to agricultural intensification and urbanization, heavy use of pesticides, and disease have eliminated this fuzzy bee, with a rusty patch on its back, from more than 80 percent of its range in North America [20].

We’re working to ensure that conservation efforts by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service incorporate the most current science and follow the requirements of the Endangered Species Act to help protect this imperiled bee from continuing threats.

Suckley’s Cuckoo Bumblebee

Suckley’s cuckoo bumblebees have a fascinating story. Females must fight or sneak into a colony of western bumblebees and kill or subdue the host colony’s queen. The cuckoo queen bee then lays her own eggs and gains control of the host colony’s worker bees, who continue collecting pollen and nectar to feed the cuckoo queen’s offspring.

Western bumblebees, the host species, have declined severely [19] — which is the main contributor to a 90% decline for Suckley’s cuckoo bumblebees.

The Center petitioned to protect Suckley’s cuckoo bumblebees under the Endangered Species Act in 2020. Two years later we secured a legal victory requiring federal officials to promptly determine whether to protect the species.

Variable Cuckoo Bumblebee

Variable cuckoo bumblebees are one of the rarest bumblebee species in North America, with not a single confirmed observation since 1999. Their fascinating life cycle requires them to invade the nests of American bumblebees — tying their fate to a host species in precipitous decline. As with Suckley’s cuckoo bumblebees and western bumblebees, their situation shows how the downfall of a single bee species can have devastating ripple effects.

We petitioned to protect variable cuckoo bumblebees as an endangered species in 2021.