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ZACHARY PORTMAN
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The invasive bees of (continental) North America


The number of introduced and invasive bees appears to be accelerating. Multiple species introductions are known only from websites like iNaturalist and bugguide. Most species are not being adequately monitored even though they may have disastrous ecological consequences for our native pollinators. Currently I'm not including Hawa'ii because that place is a mess.


Andrenidae

Andrena wilkella
  • Presumably introduced from Europe to the eastern US a long time ago, and the exact time is unknown. 
  • Linsley (1958) pointed to the lack of this species in historic lists as evidence of its introduction, but there's not much information. The area where Robertson collected is at the bottom edge of the range, so his not finding it does not tell us much. Graenicher (1902) does not record it from Wisconsin, so it may have been introduced sometime in the 1800's.


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Apidae

Anthophora villosula
  • Intentionally introduced from Japan to Maryland in 1989, at a time when people should have known better (Batra 1994).
  • Currently restricted to Maryland and surrounding areas.

Apis mellifera
  • Came over with the pilgrims

Bombus impatiens
  • Native to the eastern US and Canada, it has recently been introduced to the west coast. Currently only documented on iNaturalist: ​https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/118970-Bombus-impatiens.
  • First records appear around 2015/2016

Ceratina dallatorrean​a

Centris nitida​

Euglossa dilemma

Xylocopa appendiculata
  • https://bioone.org/journals/the-pan-pacific-entomologist/volume-89/issue-4/2013-22.1/Japanese-carpenter-bee-span-classgenus-speciesXylocopa-appendiculata-span-Smith-1852/10.3956/2013-22.1.short
  • Not clear if the species established or not 


Xylocopa (Neoxylocopa) species unknown
  • Recent introduction to central Florida, known only from bugguide and iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=557049 https://bugguide.net/node/view/1500115/bgpage
  • First sighting apparently in 2016




References:

Batra SW (1994) Anthophora pilipes villosula Sm. (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae), a manageable Japanese bee that visits blueberries and apples during cool, rainy, spring weather. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 96: 98–119. 
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