This New Bee Species Discovery Has Texas A-Buzz

Stop what you're doing! It's just been discovered that Texas is now home to yet another species of spicy fly!

What's all This Buzz About?

The University of Oklahoma recently published a study identifying the newly-discovered species, Andrena androfovea. Basically, it's the same bee that we all know and love but with a very-dark-blue to near-black coloring. Let me show you.

Makes sense?

According to the study, this brand new bug is a part of the mining bee species (Andrenidae) that has been spotted in the wilds of Oklahoma and Texas.

It's already rare enough to discover a new subgenus, but it's SUPER rare when we get a brand new species altogether. Sometimes, new subgenera are created, but that's only due to rearrangement of already-known classifications.

One co-author of the study, James Hung, was able to observe these new bees as they pollinated flowers in and around the Lone Star State.

"I observed this matte-blue-colored bee doing a handstand on the flower, sucking nectar with its tongue while scraping the flower with its hind legs and rubbing the flower with its hairy belly," Hung noted.

Science Lesson! The Value of Bees

Now, we've all made it through the second grade... hopefully. We know that bees help plants grow by distributing pollen, but the inner workings are much deeper than that.

Bees are just one of many pollinators that are hard at work for making our planet grow. The USDA highlights the importance of all animals that play a part in the pollinating process, like butterflies, bats and birds.

There are many plants that cannot reproduce without the assistance of these animals brushing pollen from one leaf or petal to another. So, let's all thank the bees in the world for their service 🙏.