It takes an expert
Bee Identification Services
I am available to identify bees on a limited basis. For my day job, I curate and identify all the bees collected by the Cariveau native bee lab, which amounts to around 70,000 specimens so far. I've also identified bees for the Minnesota DNR as well as various other researchers and federal agencies. Contracts can be made directly with me or large projects can potentially be set up as grants through the University of Minnesota. Right now I mostly focus on bees in the north-central and midwestern US, but I can also do bees from the eastern US. I can reliably identify Dialictus from those areas. Currently I am completely booked up, so please get in touch with me to discuss timelines and potential future availability. I am also happy to consult/collaborate on grant applications.
Conditions for Identification
There are a lot of opinions out there on what represents fair compensation for identification work. For that reason, I find it best to clearly and explicitly lay out my conditions for performing identifications.
My conditions for identifying specimens are as follows:
Note that some projects may not fit neatly into these guidelines. Please get in touch with me to discuss specifics (zportman@gmail.com).
Some people disagree with giving authorship for specimen IDs. My reasoning for this is that specimen identification is a substantial intellectual contribution to the work which merits authorship. And if my name is on something, then I want to personally confirm that everything is correct. However, in addition to the identifications, my participation comes with substantial benefits. It means that all species are correct and up-to-date, so there will not be embarrassing misspellings or taxonomic errors. I have a broad knowledge of the natural history of bees and can provide insight into trends that are driven by particular species. In addition, my participation means that other researchers know that they can trust the identifications. Finally, it is worth emphasizing that my position is completely funded by soft money, of which identification services make up a significant part. While I would love to provide identifications for free, it is not economically viable for me to do so.
Identified specimens will be given a determination label on the first specimen in a series. I can ID almost everything to species as long as the specimens are in decent shape. Groups that I cannot guarantee species level IDs for are: Nomada, Sphecodes, and male Dialictus. For Nomada and Sphecodes I can get most things to species and sort the rest to morphospecies. Male Dialictus of some species groups cannot be reliably identified to species because they are quite difficult and also the males of some species remain undescribed. Finally, any specimens that are in poor condition (e.g. gunked up, broken, or eaten by dermestids) may not be able to be identified to species.
What sets me apart
There are a number of people available to identify bees, but there are two main qualities that make me unique in this area:
Lastly, there are other folks out there who identify bees for free. I have had the opportunity to examine bees from many different sources and I can confidently say that when it comes to bee identification, you get what you pay for. And sometimes even when you pay for it, the results still aren’t that great. I recognize it can be difficult for a non-expert to judge the quality of different bee-identifiers, so if you have any questions at all, please get in touch (zportman@gmail.com). I am happy to provide references who are familiar with the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of my work.
Some additional interesting projects I've worked on include:
I am available to identify bees on a limited basis. For my day job, I curate and identify all the bees collected by the Cariveau native bee lab, which amounts to around 70,000 specimens so far. I've also identified bees for the Minnesota DNR as well as various other researchers and federal agencies. Contracts can be made directly with me or large projects can potentially be set up as grants through the University of Minnesota. Right now I mostly focus on bees in the north-central and midwestern US, but I can also do bees from the eastern US. I can reliably identify Dialictus from those areas. Currently I am completely booked up, so please get in touch with me to discuss timelines and potential future availability. I am also happy to consult/collaborate on grant applications.
Conditions for Identification
There are a lot of opinions out there on what represents fair compensation for identification work. For that reason, I find it best to clearly and explicitly lay out my conditions for performing identifications.
My conditions for identifying specimens are as follows:
- I look at all specimens (not just verify a specific group or subset)
- At least $1 per specimen (price varies based on multiple factors, including project size and location)
- All specimens are pinned and have proper labels with locality, date, etc.
- I am an author on all publications using those specimens
Note that some projects may not fit neatly into these guidelines. Please get in touch with me to discuss specifics (zportman@gmail.com).
Some people disagree with giving authorship for specimen IDs. My reasoning for this is that specimen identification is a substantial intellectual contribution to the work which merits authorship. And if my name is on something, then I want to personally confirm that everything is correct. However, in addition to the identifications, my participation comes with substantial benefits. It means that all species are correct and up-to-date, so there will not be embarrassing misspellings or taxonomic errors. I have a broad knowledge of the natural history of bees and can provide insight into trends that are driven by particular species. In addition, my participation means that other researchers know that they can trust the identifications. Finally, it is worth emphasizing that my position is completely funded by soft money, of which identification services make up a significant part. While I would love to provide identifications for free, it is not economically viable for me to do so.
Identified specimens will be given a determination label on the first specimen in a series. I can ID almost everything to species as long as the specimens are in decent shape. Groups that I cannot guarantee species level IDs for are: Nomada, Sphecodes, and male Dialictus. For Nomada and Sphecodes I can get most things to species and sort the rest to morphospecies. Male Dialictus of some species groups cannot be reliably identified to species because they are quite difficult and also the males of some species remain undescribed. Finally, any specimens that are in poor condition (e.g. gunked up, broken, or eaten by dermestids) may not be able to be identified to species.
What sets me apart
There are a number of people available to identify bees, but there are two main qualities that make me unique in this area:
- I am extremely specialized and work full-time identifying bees. There are few, if any, other researchers who have as much time to devote to bee identification. I have spent the last ten years focused on bee identification and it is something that I love and look forward to doing every day.
- I am one of only a handful of bee identifiers actively researching and publishing on the taxonomy of bees and their identification. In addition to the taxonomic work on Perdita for my PhD, recent taxonomy-focused papers include a treatment on how to identify the adventive bee Pseudoanthidium nanum and I have another paper splitting Andrena ziziae into two species (see publications).
Lastly, there are other folks out there who identify bees for free. I have had the opportunity to examine bees from many different sources and I can confidently say that when it comes to bee identification, you get what you pay for. And sometimes even when you pay for it, the results still aren’t that great. I recognize it can be difficult for a non-expert to judge the quality of different bee-identifiers, so if you have any questions at all, please get in touch (zportman@gmail.com). I am happy to provide references who are familiar with the quality, accuracy, and timeliness of my work.
Some additional interesting projects I've worked on include:
- Exciting work looking at the bee communities of Minnesota prairie remnants and restorations, led by Ian Lane. I identified 6,608 bees and 127 species. Part 1 published in the Journal of Applied Ecology: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13694
- Part 2 of that work, for which I identified 8,917 bees of 164 species, is currently in press, also in the Journal of Applied Ecology.
- Cutting-edge methods using emergence traps to look at the effects of fire on ground-nesting bee communities, led by Julia Brokaw: https://esa.confex.com/esa/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/147809