25 December 2014
What’s a
mining bee? I imagined a bee wearing a light mounted on a hat and buzzing around in a dark shaft.
Beekeepers putting bees to work underground!? Maybe a way had been found to get bees to
mine coal.
Well, I
thought, doesn’t that beat all.
It’s not as
if bees don’t have enough trouble these days with the abuse they take when
trucked all over the country for pollination services. Not only does the travel take them over bumpy
roads that deprive the insects of sleep but, then, they’re starved for a day or
so (to make them more aggressive pollinators).
Finally, twice as many honeybees are released into the fields as there
are blossoms to pollinate. That way, all
the blossoms get pollinated, but many of bees are left exhausted and underfed.
Now, bees
are forced into the coal mines!?
“SOLD MY SOUL TO THE COMPANY
STORE”?
I had
visions of the poor bees being sent to work in the coal mines during the “off
season." Worked long hours, exposed to
excessive coal dust, only to earn “company script” that could only be redeemed
for food at the “company” honeycomb. But soon, I figured out that this wasn’t a
“16 Tons” story after
all.
THE BEE UNDERGROUND
Bees are
called mining bees when the individual bees of a particular species nest underground -- burrowing into the
ground to build their nests and raise their young. And mining bees aren’t a particular
species. In fact, about 70% of all bee species
nest underground.
The most
familiar bees, the honeybee and bumblebee, are among the relatively few species
of bees that build nests above ground. But most bee species can be called “mining bees” and, also, a few less
flattering and/or interesting names such as “digger bees,” “ground bees,” “dirt
bees,” and “mud bees.” This inoffensive group of bee-species pioneered
underground living.
LIVING UNDER THE
RADAR
Mining bees
are quite inoffensive. They build
their nests individually, but they live in communities with dozens of nests
clustered together in an arrangement not unlike a modern human
subdivision. There may be a community in
your own yard. The period of frequent above-ground
appearances by these
unaggressive bees is a seasonal event. Their active season lasts, at most, for few months or as little as a couple of weeks. You can mow over their nests and walk one top of the community without doing much damage.
unaggressive bees is a seasonal event. Their active season lasts, at most, for few months or as little as a couple of weeks. You can mow over their nests and walk one top of the community without doing much damage.
I've heard it said that there are
stories of persons walking barefoot over a very large cluster of some types of
mining bees and experiencing some stings.
But I couldn’t find the story of single sting. In any case, the pain from the sting of the
worst of the mining bees could never compare to the pain caused by a honeybee or
wasp sting.
You’d think
with this inoffensive lifestyle, everyone would love these retiring,
subterranean bees as they went about their business living quietly “off the
grid.” But, instead, a lot of people are
trying to kill them.
DEATH BLOW
In spite of the value of mining
bees in terms of soil aeration, when found in yards and gardens, many people go
to great lengths to exterminate these retiring bees.
But why?
In the post
Let Mining Bees Be,
Rusty of Honey Bee Suite introduces us to mining bees and goes
on to suggest that many people have a mistaken fear of all bees and bee stings. People confuse the retiring mining bees with
the honey and bumblebees – both of which have a much more powerful and painful
sting. Fearing actual injury, pesticides
are used to wipe out whole colonies of mining bees – really for no good reason.
I wondered
if that could be true. But I was
suspicious. Sometimes, there are
misunderstandings. But, you know, where there’s smoke there’s fire. These “apparently harmless” bees must “be up
to something.” So, I started digging, myself -- digging to get the real story. And the real story was a real surprise.
IDENTITY THEFT!
Not only is
Rusty giving us the straight story, but there’s something sinister going on in
the background. Mining bees are the
victims of identity theft. People
mistake them for other stinging insects.
And, while the other insects often escape unharmed, the mining bees get
exterminated – for stings they didn’t commit!
One
instance provides an excellent illustration of how it works. A gardener noticed a mining bee community
nesting in, or around, his garden. The
following weekend, while working in the garden, a large yellow and black flying
insect suddenly crawled out of the ground and stung him. The sting really, really hurt. Then, a large
-- almost 2 inch long – prehistoric-looking yellow and black flying insect
emerged from the ground. By now, the
disabled victim of the unbearably painful sting suspected that the first bee
had just “softened him up.” Now, it's
really big older sister would come out of the ground and . . . “finish the
job.”
But there
is a problem here. The gardener wasn’t
stung by a bee at all. The stinging
yellow and black flying insect was a true “yellow jacket.” Some call bumblebees “yellow jackets,” but
the name properly belongs to a large wasp.
The “yellow
jacket” wasp doesn’t have any relationship to the mining bees. And these wasps are dangerous. They are responsible for most of the
so-called “bee sting deaths” in the United States during each year.
But, wait,
what about the giant prehistoric looking yellow and black bee that crawled up
out of the ground after the “yellow jacket” gave the gardener that painful
sting? Well, that wasn’t a bee either. It was a cicada-killing
wasp. These two-inch long monsters never
sting people. They just climb up out of
the ground, from time to time, to scare the living daylights out anyone who
happens to see them.
Unfortunately,
“yellow jacket” stings and cicada-killing wasp sightings probably result in most mining bee extermination. With the neither of the wasps being touched by the extermination effort. Terrified landowners take
substantial measures to wipe out the offenders.
Unfortunately, more often than not, the innocent mining bees are wiped
out and “yellow jackets” are left to go on stinging.
Mark Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri & Belleville,
Illinois
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