Endangered species of bee found in Iowa City yard, scientists now studying nest
A Johnson County Conservation staff member says they discovered an endangered species of bee in a small hole in the ground in their Iowa City yard in August.
Now scientists are getting the chance to learn more about a species that’s been on the decline since the late 1990s/early 2000s.
Johnson County Conservation says the bees found were Rusty Patched bumblebees (Bombus affinis, RPBB).
According to Johnson County Conservation, the species was once found in 28 U.S. states from the Dakotas, southeast to Georgia, and northward into three Canadian provinces. However, since 2015, the species has only been in about seven U.S. states, and is believed to no longer be in Canada at all.
The species was listed as federally endangered in 2017.
After Johnson County Conservation staff posted to iNaturalist about the find, Kyle Price, a West Virginia scientist, reached out and made a visit in September to see the nest site.
Price returned over the weekend with one of his colleagues to excavate the nest, because it had already completed its life cycle.
The excavation took about five and a half hours. The two found the nest about five and a half feet from the suspected main nest entrance.
Johnson County Conservation said this nest is the first found in Iowa since the species was listed as federally endangered.
The find will help scientists learn more about this endangered species, as very little is known about its nesting ecology.
