short quiz on solitary bees and bumblebees

1.DoanyofthesenamesNOTbelongtoarealspeciesofbee?

A–CarpenterBee

B–Hairy-FootedFlowerBee

C–WoolCarderBee

D–AshyMiningBee

2.Howmanyworkerscanliveinabumblebeecolony?

A–1-40

B–50-500

C–600-1,000

D–10,000-50,000

3.Whichtypeofbeepollinatesthemostplantsinaday?

A–HoneyBees

B–SolitaryBees

C–BumbleBees

4.Wheredosolitarybeesbuildtheirnests?

A–BeeHotels

B–Tunnelsintheground

C–Hollowreeds

D–Holesinwood

Whatdoyoucalllargegroupsofsolitarybeenests?A–BeeHiveEstates

B–Colonies

C–Aggregations

D–HousingEstates

2.Bumblebeecoloniestendtobeonaverage120-200insizebutcanbeaslargeas500.Rememberhoneybeehivescanhaveasmanyas50,000beesinonehive.Asbumblebeesaredecliningandfewerthanhalfthecoloniessurviveoneseason-itisimportanttoconservethembynotdisturbingtheirhiveifyoufindone.

3.Itisinfactthebumblebeesandsolitarybeesthatpollinatemoreplantsperdaythanhoneybees.Bumblebeestendtobehairierandhavevibrationtechniquestocollectmorepolleninthesamewaythatsomesolitarybeesareespeciallyadaptedtopollinatecertainplants(knownas“oligoleges”).Thedeclineofthesetypesofbeeswillalsoendangerthesurvivaloftheplant.Rememberthoughthatthehoneybeehasmorejobsthanthesolitarybeeandbumblebee.Itproduceshoneyandbeeswaxandtakescareofabigfamily!

1. AllthesenamesbelongtoarealspeciesofbeeincludingtheHairy-FootedFlowerBeeandarenamedfortheirspecialcharacteristics:

A–TheCarpenterbeeboresholesintowoodtomakeitsnest

B-TheHairy-FootedFlowerbeehashairyfeet!

C–TheWoolCarderbeecollectshairsfromplantstolineitseggcells

D–TheAshyMiningbeeseekschalkygroundinwhichtoburrowtocreateitsnest

Solitarybees,likebumblebees,arenotaggressiveandwillnotstingyouunlessyoubotherthem

4.Solitarybeesbuildtheirnestsinalltheplaces mentioned. If people are niceenoughtobuildahoteltheyarehappytonestthereas longas it iscleanandwellmaintained! Bees are very sensitive tochemicals-andwillnotforinstancenestin ground that might contain chemicalfertilizer or insecticide – so we need totry and make sure not to use it in ourgardens.

5.Largegroupsofsolitarybeenestsarecalled“aggregations”.