Rusty patched bumble bees were once a common sight, flitting from flower to flower to sip nectar and transfer pollen. But that species of bee had not been seen in the eastern United States for five years, and researchers feared that one of nature's most efficient pollinators was headed for extinction.
This summer, though, a research team led by a University of Virginia professor and two members of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute spotted a rusty patched bumble bee at Sky Meadows State Park in Delaplane, Virginia. It was only one worker bee from the rusty patched species, out of the nearly 35,000 bees belonging to 126 species collected and examined in the study, but its identification raises the possibility that this extremely rare species may be hanging on.
"In 20 years of studying bees, I have never seen a rusty patched," said T'ai Roulston, research associate professor in the College of Arts & Sciences' Department of Environmental Sciences and a member of the research team. "Where there is a worker bee, there is a colony and maybe more than one. As they've gone underground for the winter, we can actively look for the colony next spring, study them and what might be affecting the species.
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