Hymenoptera (Bees)

Safety - before heading out on the trail please see "For Your Safety".
Everyone collecting specimens in the Park is required to obtain a collecting permit. This can be applied for online on the National Park Service Research Permit and Reporting System.

If you are interested in participating in the bee project described below, please contact Adriean Mayor at Adriean_Mayor@nps.gov.	Click photos to enlarge.
OBJECTIVES To find and identify the bees of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. To make observations on the flowers visited by bees.

MATERIALS and METHODS Traditional and structured sampling collections of bees were made. Net collecting bees at plants in flower. Malaise trap samples at 11 permanent plot sites. Pan or colored bowl trap sampling. Blue, yellow, and white bowls work best. Don't use orange or red bowls. Small bowls work just as well as large bowls. Don't use lemon scented dishwashing liquid. Bee identifications were confirmed by specialists.

*Bombus affinus* Is it Extinct???
Exotic Bees Megachile sculpturalis Osmia taurus Osmia cornifrons Apis mellifera
WHAT LIES AHEAD? Observe flower visits by bees Identify pollen carried by bees Get more bees!!!

A Halictidae bee pollinates a Nodding pogonia (Triphora trianthophora) along the Grapeyard Ridge Trail. The purple substance on the back of the bee is pollen from the pogonia.
Bumble bees (Apidae) and beetles (Coleoptera) pollinate Mountain Angelica (Angelica triquinata) at Andrews Bald.
A bumble bee (Apidae) uses its long tongue to get nectar from a White Snakeroot blossom along the Dry Sluice Gap Trail.
POLLEN Dogwood (Cornaceae). Dogwood (Cornaceae) and other. Rose (Rosaceae). Dogwood (Cornaceae) and holly (Aquifoliaceae).



Make mine Dogwood!