Hunter
10/24/24
A bumblebee that has been on the endangered species list for seven years was discovered on an Iowa City property this summer.
Michelle Wiegand was doing yard work at her home when she discovered the rare species. She took a picture of it before it went underground and it was confirmed to be a rusty patched bumblebee.
Amy Toth, a professor and chair of the graduate program in ecology and evolutionary biology at Iowa State University, told the Gazette the sighting is noteworthy. Rusty patched bumblebee numbers have declined by 80 percent and are only found in a few states and no longer in Canada.
A field biologist from an Ohio company visited the property in September, and an excavation was conducted this month. It was discovered that the nest held about 150 bumblebees. Kyle Price said that since the rusty patched bumblebee was listed as endangered, fewer than 15 nests have been found.
The rusty patched bumblebee is only one of many species that are disappearing, and public awareness is growing over the protection of bees in general.