What is in this article?:
- A team of scientists recently rediscovered the rarest species of bumblebee in the United States, last seen in 1956, living in the White Mountains of south-central New Mexico.
- There are nearly 50 species of native U.S. bumblebees, including a few on the verge of extinction, such as the species known as "Franklin's bumblebee," which has been seen only once since 2003.
UC Riverside entomologists rediscover many such "lost" insect species and discover entirely new species on a regular basis, at the rate of several dozen species every year, primarily in groups such as bees, wasps, beetles, and plant bugs. According to recent estimates, approximately 8 million species are in existence, the vast majority being insects of which only about 1 million have been described.
"It should come as no surprise that we discover so many new species of insects so easily," Yanega said. "But the pace of species discovery and description is incredibly slow because there are so few insect taxonomists relative to the number of undescribed insects. Moreover, the work is painstaking, time-consuming, and not very glamorous, at least in the public's perception, when compared to studying things like dinosaurs."
As for plans regarding additional work with Cockerell's bumblebee, Yanega said that the recent expedition, carried out together with UC Riverside scientists Keve Ribardo and Greg Ballmer, was funded in part by the Friends of the Entomology Research Museum, a non-profit organization supporting UC Riverside's Entomology Research Museum, but that nothing further was yet planned. The DNA sequencing also was carried out at UC Riverside as part of a larger study on wasp and bee relationships.
"The first step is to come to a firm conclusion regarding the status of this bee as a species," he said. "The second step is spreading the word to the scientific community that this bee deserves some attention, as it has been completely overlooked. Here at UCR we may or may not be involved beyond that point, in gathering data on the distribution and biology of this species, but at the very least our discovery can get the proverbial ball rolling."