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The Very Handy Bee Manual

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The Very Handy Bee Manual The Very Handy Manual: How to Catch and Identify Bees and Manage a Collection A Collective and Ongoing Effort by Those Who Love to Study Bees in North America Last Revised: October, 2010 This manual is a compilation of the wisdom and experience of many individuals, some of whom are directly acknowledged here and others not. We thank all of you. The bulk of the text was compiled by Sam Droege at the USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab over several years from 2004-2008. We regularly update the manual with new information, so, if you have a new technique, some additional ideas for sections, corrections or additions, we would like to hear from you. Please email those to Sam Droege ([email protected]). You can also email Sam if you are interested in joining the group’s discussion group on bee monitoring and identification. Many thanks to Dave and Janice Green, Tracy Zarrillo, and Liz Sellers for their many hours of editing this manual. "They've got this steamroller going, and they won't stop until there's nobody fishing. What are they going to do then, save some bees?" - Mike Russo (Massachusetts fisherman who has fished cod for 18 years, on environmentalists)-Provided by Matthew Shepherd Contents Where to Find Bees ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Nets ............................................................................................................................................................. 2 Netting Technique ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Removing Bees From the Net ....................................................................................................................... 4 Using Ice and Dry Ice .................................................................................................................................... 5 Catching Bees on Flowers with Baggies and Kill Jars ...................................................................................... 5 Bee Vacuum ................................................................................................................................................. 5 Chlorocresol Humidor .................................................................................................................................. 8 Pinning 101: ................................................................................................................................................. 8 Labels ........................................................................................................................................................ 11 Pens........................................................................................................................................................... 16 Entering Specimen Data ............................................................................................................................. 17 Microscopes .............................................................................................................................................. 17 The Bee Bowl Trap ..................................................................................................................................... 19 Glycol Pan or Bowl Traps ............................................................................................................................ 25 Flower Traps .............................................................................................................................................. 27 Trap Holders .............................................................................................................................................. 28 Field Trip Checklist ..................................................................................................................................... 29 Bee Monitoring Discussion List and Announcements .................................................................................. 29 Quick Bee Survey Protocol ......................................................................................................................... 29 Processing Bees that Have Been Stored in Alcohol ...................................................................................... 30 Cleaning Bees that Have Gotten Moldy ...................................................................................................... 33 Re-hydrating Bees that have Been Pinned .................................................................................................. 33 Inexpensive, but Powerful LED and Florescent Light Sources ....................................................................... 34 How to Make a Pizza Insect Pinning Box ..................................................................................................... 35 T. Mitchell’s Guide to the Bees of the Eastern United States ....................................................................... 36 Mike Arduser’s Keys ................................................................................................................................... 37 Canadian Identification Guides ................................................................................................................... 37 Stylopized Bees .......................................................................................................................................... 42 Taking Pictures of Bees with the COOLPIX 990 ............................................................................................ 43 Affixing bee wings to microscope slides ...................................................................................................... 50 North American (North of Mexico) Introduced and Alien Bee Species ......................................................... 51 Mini-summary of the Genera of Eastern North American Bees ................................................................... 53 Pronunciation Guide to the Bee Genera of the United States and Canada (and Selected Subgenera) ........... 60 Glossary of Bee Taxonomic Terms .............................................................................................................. 63 Bee Body Part Figures ................................................................................................................................ 66 Where to Find Bees Bees are nearly ubiquitous; they occur essentially everywhere. However, in any given landscape there are usually a few good places to collect bees where they are concentrated, diverse, abundant, and easy to capture and there are many, many places where bees are difficult to find and collect. If you are interested in biodiversity, and taxonomic surveys, it will be important to discover these hotspots. In North America, in general, good collection locales will be places where floral composition is concentrated or unusual. If you are unfamiliar with an area then exploring road/stream/river crossings, powerline rights-of-way, railroad track rights-of-way, sand and gravel operations, open sandy areas, and wetlands are good places to start, In areas with a lot of development, the industrial sector often contains weedy lots and roadsides that also can have good numbers of bees. Note that just because there are few or no plants blooming (to your eye!), this doesn’t mean that there are no or no interesting bees present. A good collecting strategy is to put out bee bowl traps (see sections below) in the morning, and return to good potential collecting sites that you spotted that morning during mid-day. Nets Almost any type of insect net will catch bees. However, bee collectors do have preferences. Most people now use aluminum handled nets rather than wood. Some prefer the flexible strap metal netting hoops, as these work well when slapping nets against the ground to capture low flying or ground resting bees. Others prefer the more traditional solid wire hoops. Hoop size varies from about 12” to 18.” The larger the hoop, the greater the area of capture, however, larger hoops are more difficult to swing quickly due to air resistance and there is more netting to snag on branches. BioQuip makes a net which is very portable for travel or backpacking. The pole disconnects into 3 small sections and the hoop can be folded into itself. Additional sections can be added to reach into out of the way places. Telescoping poles are also available but must be treated with care or their locking mechanisms will jam. An inexpensive long pole can be rigged by attaching a net hoop to a section of bamboo with hose clamps. Aerial nets, rather than beating or sweep nets are normally used around the hoops. A fine mesh net bag rather than the traditional aerial net bag can keep the smallest Perdita from escaping. Netting Technique Always hold your net in a “swing-ready” position. One hand should be below the head and the other towards the back or middle of the pole. Hold the tip of the net lightly against the pole with the hand near the head so that it does not drag in vegetation. When you start your swing drop the tip of the net. Bees are best detected by their motion, rather than their size and shape. The mind detects motion much faster than it can process colors and shapes into bee/not bee categories. Train yourself to key in on movement; over time you will become more adept at separating
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