A Pollen Thief in the Bee World 

You may have heard of honey bees and bumble bees, but did you know there are roughly 4,000 species of native bees in the United States? 

One interesting bee is the passionflower bee (Protandrena passiflorae). This bee forages exclusively on yellow passionflower (Passiflora lutea), a small vine native primarily to the southeastern U.S. with delicate and fragrant yellow flowers. 

Researchers joke that the bee is a “pollen thief” due to its unusual and self-serving behaviors. 

“The passionflower bee is really a pollen thief,” Katherine Parys, a research entomologist at the ARS Pollinator Health in Southern Crop Ecosystems Research Unit in Stoneville, MS. “The female bees take pollen from the flowers to feed their larvae but likely contribute little to actual pollination.” 

To better understand this quirky bee, ARS researchers wanted to study its genetic makeup.  They developed a high-quality genome, a complete set of DNA that an organism has. Want to learn more? Read "Studying A Notorious Pollen Thief". 

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