Calamintha Bee | Blue Bee

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hi everyone!

today I’m going

be making a

post about the

once thought

existent bees

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❝The name "calaminthae" is

Latin for mint, as the presumed

pollen host for the bee is

Calamintha ashei, commonly

known as Ashe's mint. ❞

                       ‪  ╭┈┈┈┈┈┈𓂀‬

┊🌧 —table of content

┊i. about

┊ii.  history

┊iii.   sightings

┊iiv.      end.

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┊┊

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The calamintha bee or known

as the Osmia Calaminthae bee

is a rare species of mason bee

which is located only in

Highlands County, Florida, US

and is considered Critically

Imperiled by NatureServe.

It’s name comes from the blue

color of its body. It’s named

after the Calamintha ashei a

favored plant by them.

The bee has only been sited

at four different areas. All near

the Highlands County. It could

possibly be the most

geographically limited bees in

North America.

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Some more concerning things

about the Calamintha bee is

that the bee is poorly known.

It’s conservation status is not

currently documented. The

Florida State Wildlife Action

Plan listed the bee as “species

of greatest conservation need”

and recently in 2019 it was

labeled as Critically Imperiled.

In 2015 there was a petition

for the evaluation of the

conservation status of the bee.

In 2011 the bee was described,

in 2016 it’s habitat was studied

and recently in March of 2020

it was rediscovered.

The sad thing is that most of

the bee’s habitat isn’t protected

and is underdevelopment.

Chemicals such as pesticides and

all-terrain vehicles can also

cause harm to them.

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❝ I was open to the possibility

that we may not find the bee at

all so that first moment when we

spotted it in the field was really exciting, ❞

            - Chase Kimmel, a postdoctoral researcher.

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Hopefully with new movements

being made for the bee and

having the public and more

researchers finding information

about them we can help save

and protect this almost extinct

and endangered bee.

Thank you for reading! Hope

you enjoyed about found this

interesting I know I did. And

to think I found this out from

a TikTok. #CuratorReview

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Sources

Florida Museum

Wikipedia