The Metallic Marvels - Sweat Bees

Those tiny flashes of emerald and copper zipping through your garden aren't gnats - they're living jewels! Meet the metallic sweat bees that sparkle like flying gemstones and yes, some of them think you're delicious. Discover why these miniature marvels might be the most beautiful pollinators you never knew existed. www.secretpollinators.com KEY SOURCES Halictid biology and identification Michener, C. D. (2007). The Bees of the World, 2nd ed. Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 319–412 (Halictidae). Zettel Nalen, C. M. Sweat Bees, Halictid Bees, Halictidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera). University of Florida IFAS Extension EENY-473 — Halictinae as the family's most diverse subfamily; sweat bees as important pollinators of wildflowers and crops including stone fruits, pome fruits, alfalfa, and sunflower. Wilson, J. S., & Carril, O. M. (2016). The Bees in Your Backyard. Princeton University Press. Eickwort, G. C., & Eickwort, K. R. (1973). Notes on the nests of three wood-dwelling species of Augochlora from Costa Rica. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 46, 17–22. Buzz pollination by sweat bees Minnesota Native Bees, Pollination. beesmn.org — buzz-pollinating genera include Halictus, Lasioglossum, Agapostemon, Augochlora, Augochloropsis, and Augochlorella. Purdue University Vegetable Crops Hotline, Insect Spotlight: Lasioglossum Sweat Bees (2024) — historically overlooked due to small size, but high abundance and long per-flower visit times make them as effective or more effective than larger bees; they exhibit buzz pollination, necessary for fruit set in Solanum crops. Martins, D. J. (2014). Sweat Bees (Halictidae): Natural History and Pesticide Impacts — halictids as sonicating pollinators of eggplant and other Solanaceae in East Africa; Halictus tripartitus as a watermelon and prickly pear pollinator in the western US. De Luca, P. A., & Vallejo-Marín, M. (2013). What's the buzz about? The ecology and evolutionary significance of buzz-pollination. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 16(4), 429–435. DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2013.05.002 Social variation Michener, C. D. (1974). The Social Behavior of the Bees. Harvard University Press. Schwarz, M. P., Richards, M. H., & Danforth, B. N. (2007). Changing paradigms in insect social evolution: insights from halictine and allodapine bees. Annual Review of Entomology, 52, 127–150. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ento.51.110104.150950 Richards, M. H., & Packer, L. (1995). Annual variation in survival and reproduction of the primitively eusocial sweat bee Halictus ligatus. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 73(5), 933–941. Sakagami, S. F., & Munakata, M. (1972). Distribution and bionomics of a transpalaearctic eusocial halictine bee, Lasioglossum (Evylaeus) calceatum, in northern Japan. Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University. Gibbs, J., Brady, S. G., Kanda, K., & Danforth, B. N. (2012). Phylogeny of halictine bees supports a shared origin of eusociality for Halictus and Lasioglossum. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 65(3), 926–939. Structural coloration Kinoshita, S., Yoshioka, S., & Miyazaki, J. (2008). Physics of structural colors. Reports on Progress in Physics, 71(7), 076401. DOI: 10.1088/0034-4885/71/7/076401 Seago, A. E., Brady, P., Vigneron, J.-P., & Schultz, T. D. (2009). Gold bugs and beyond: a review of iridescence and structural colour mechanisms in beetles. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 6 (Suppl 2), S165–S184. Attraction to perspiration UW-Milwaukee Field Station, Sweat Bee (Family Halictidae) — Lasioglossum landing on sweaty skin to lap salt. #SecretPollinators #MetallicBees #SweatBees #HalictidBees #NativeBees #Pollinators #MetallicMarvels #GardenJewels #TinyPollinators #NatureEducation #PodcastLife #Biodiversity #BackyardWildlife #GreenBees #BuzzPollination