Florida Museum of Natural History scientists have found the first nest of Florida’s extraordinarily rare blue calamintha bee and added a new location to its known range: the Ocala National Forest. They also confirmed the insect feeds on a second, but highly endangered, host plant.
Florida Museum of Natural History scientists have found the first nest of Florida’s extraordinarily rare blue calamintha bee and added a new location to its known range: the Ocala National Forest.
Florida scientists find rare bee species in new locations.
Natalie Van Hoose, Florida Museum of Natural History
June 5, 2021
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) Florida Museum of Natural History scientists have found the first nest of Florida’s extraordinarily rare blue calamintha bee and added a new location to its known range: the Ocala National Forest. They also confirmed the insect feeds on a second, but highly endangered, host plant.
Researchers made the discoveries during their second field season tracking the obscure bee in Central Florida’s sand pine scrub habitats. Their findings will help inform conservation and land management efforts and a federal assessment on whether the blue calamintha bee qualifies for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Finding them in the Ocala National Forest
First described in 2011, the blue calamintha bee, Osmia calaminthae, was known from only four locations on Lake Wales Ridge until museum researcher Chase Kimmel documented new populations in 2020. Over the past two field seasons, Kimmel and field technician Clint Gibson have observed the bee at 11 new locations, including the Ocala National Forest, giving scientists valuable insight into the species’ potential range.
The bee’s primary home, Lake Wales Ridge, is a 150-mile-long sandy spine running down the center of the state, the remnant of ancient islands in Florida’s distant past. The region harbors plant and animal species found nowhere else, but ranks among the nation’s fastest-disappearing ecosystems, with pockets of natural habitat surrounded by citrus groves and suburban neighborhoods.