"It puts into perspective how much habitat loss affects all the animals that live in this area." "It's one thing to read about habitat loss and development and another to be driving for 30-40 minutes through miles of orange groves just to get to a really small conservation site," Kimmel said. However, the threatened plant species isn't the only risk to the bee's survival.īlue calamintha bees are endemic to Florida, and have only been found in scrub habitat in the Lake Wales Ridge - one of the nation's fastest-disappearing ecosystems. Kimmel and Daniels also discovered another plant the bee visits when it cannot find Ashe's calamint. "It is very important to continue investigating the relationship between the bee and the plant host or hosts and its influence on the environment itself." Its presence is highly associated with Ashe's calamint, so the bee may influence how well the plant is pollinated which can affect the plant's survivorship," Kimmel told CNN. "It is still very rare and can take many hours and days to find it which reinforces how rare it can be. This spring, Kimmel was able to record the blue bee in seven new areas they were never spotted in before, proving their known range is larger than scientists thought. Kimmel and his adviser, Jaret Daniels, are currently working on a two-year research project to determine the blue calamintha bee's current population and the species' nesting and feeding habits.īefore the discovery, the blue bees were only found in four locations along the southern portion of the Lake Wales Ridge. Kimmel spotted the bee, known for its unique way of collecting pollen, when he and a volunteer were installing a bee condo in the Lake Wales Ridge near some Ashe's calamint - another threatened species that blue calaminthas depend on for food. "I was open to the possibility that we may not find the bee at all so that first moment when we spotted it in the field was really exciting," postdoctoral researcher Chase Kimmel, who found the bee, said in the release. The discovery marks an incredible breakthrough as scientists race to learn more about the blue bee, which is currently listed by Florida's State Wildlife Action Plan as a species of greatest conservation need. The metallic navy insect, a blue calamintha bee, had only been previously found in four areas "totaling just 16 square miles of pine scrub habitat at Central Florida's Lake Wales Ridge," the Florida Museum said in a news release. A rare blue bee scientists thought might have become extinct has been rediscovered in Florida.Īn extremely rare blue bee that was last seen four years ago has been rediscovered by a researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
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