We recently reported on the Brown Widow Spider – something unusual, but not dramatic. Today,  there IS something dramatic…

During his recent trip to Ventura County to work on tracking the movement of the Brown Widow spider, Latrodectus geometricus, UCR entomologist, Rick Vetter discovered a spider never before reported in this hemisphere.

Rick is asking the Ventura County residents to help him collect more specimens for a paper he is currently writing on this find.  He expects that these specimens may well end up in either the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco or the American Museum of Natural History in New York because of the importance of this discovery.  Your work will become a part of entomological history!

Please refer to the image of the spider to help you identify any possible finds. Rick has noted, “The spider is chocolate brown in color and some females lose A LOT of the light marking on the abdomen.”

Toward this end, Rick is asking Ventura County residents willing to help him, to please:

Have a few amber prescription containers on hand.

Search in your yard for this new spider:

• under plastic patio furniture
• in the indentations under garbage cans
• under potted plants that are raised off the ground
• under picnic tables

If you suspect that you have found the spider, use a stick to carefully maneuver the spider into the amber prescription container.

Please place a piece of paper towel in the container so the spider has something to hold onto during transport but also enough space to move around some; perhaps a piece that doesn’t exceed 1/3-1/2 of the size of the container.

Please mark each specimen container with the following:

• Date and yard location of find
• Complete house address of find
• Your name and phone number

Please mail your live spider within one week or so of its collection, keeping it out of the heat in the meantime.  A padded envelope would be helpful.

Please send your specimens to:

Rick Vetter

Entomology

Univ. of California, Riverside

Riverside, CA. 92521

One further note from Rick:  “the mature female is as large as a black widow and therefore, is large enough to inflict a bite; however, the effects of the bite are minor.”

Native Bees

One of our more active garden members, John, is a bee-keeper. Last year, we tried to establish a hive in my orchard area. Competition from the black Argentine ants drove off two different hives. Since we were trying to get them established, I was particularly observant of bees this year.

With the exceptionally long, wet winter we’ve enjoyed, we re up to our knees in new growth, and the gardens are alive with new life. Actually, the Shen Gi’ Ku – edible Japanese Chrysanthemum – is already more than shoulder high – so I guess this organic stuff must actually work…

Among all the new life, I have seen quite a number of native solitary bees in the area. These ‘solitary’ bees are not hive dwellers, but rather live (mostly) solitary lives. With no hive to defend, they tend to be non-aggressive. There are 1,600 varieties of native bees in California and these contribute greatly to crop pollination. Reportedly, they are responsible for more pollination than the European honey bee, which is suffering a serious decline.

I have found a large increase in the number of ground dwelling bees here on my property. These bee ‘houses’ are ~1/4″ diamter holes on the ground with a mud-walled tube extending 1/2″ to 3/4″ above the soil surface. The bees can be seen entering and leaving these tubes.

Although I have not kept an accurate count, it appears there are more native bees active in my gardens, orchards and native plant areas than there are European honey bees. You can help these native bees survive by making housing available for their use.

‘Bee Blocks’ are wooden 4×4 blocks drilled with random sized holes 1/4″ to 3/8″ diameter. More sophisticated housing feature rolled parchment paper linings cut to size, rolled and slid into the tubes. The following year, these are removed and replaced to give clean fresh housing to the next generation of bees.

The finished blocks are attached to posts, tree trunks or other low-level location. Bees will find and use these, bringing a new dimension of wildlife to your garden.

Here is an informative article on How To Make A Solitary Bee House.

This ANR News Blog, Backwards is the New Forwards, has an interesting update on the colony decline issue…

(The following article is reprinted with permission of the author, Kimberly Benedict, Cortez Journal Staff Writer)

Native pollinators

Researchers study relationship between local bees, plants

Research into the relationship between native bee populations and native plants and grasses is poised to have an impact in Montezuma County.

The research is focused on domesticating bees native to the Four Corners, rather than the more common honey bee.

“Honey bees are not a native bee,” said Bob Hammon, area extension agent with Tri-River Area Colorado State University Extension office, based in Grand Junction. “Most people assume that when you talk about bees, you are talking about honey bees. But there are hundreds and hundreds of native bees in the area.”

The bees studied by Hammon and U.S. Department of Agriculture researcher Jim Cane, based in Logan, Utah, have a wide range of characteristics, but all vary greatly from honey bees.

“Honey bees are a social bee,” Hammon said. “They have a queen and a colony. The other bees are solitary bees, and many are ground-nesting bees.”

A major difference between the two types of bees is in the use of pollen. Honey bees gather pollen to make honey. Other native bees use collected pollen as a food source for their larvae, turning the pollen “into the next generation of bees,” Hammon said.

Honey bees were brought to the United States by immigrants travelling from Europe and Asia, according to Hammon. The species has been domesticated for centuries.

“Native bees tend to be ignored,” he said. “There are only a few species that have been domesticated, but they are absolutely essential. All they do is pollinate, and without pollinators we wouldn’t have our native plants. They are really important and fascinating to study.”

Hammon has been studying the impact of native bees on seed production at the local farms of Southwest Seeds, owned by Walter Henes, for the better part of a decade.

“We’ve been surveying native bees with Walter for quite a few years,” Hammon said. “We’re looking at the pollinators and what species of native bees are necessary to set seed. It has been a really successful project, and it has been good to see it thrive in Montezuma County.”

New native bee studies have been undertaken to specifically correlate with needs expressed by the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The two federal agencies are working to generate commercial amounts of native seed for grasses and wildflowers that can be used to reseed areas that have been destroyed in wildfires. Finding the right balance of plant and pollinator is essential for producing large amounts of seed.

“My part of the project is to understand the pollination needs of the wildflower the BLM and forest service wants to put in production,” Cane said. “We are looking at that so pollination is not the weak link.”

Cane is specifically working with a species of bee known only by its Latin name, “Osmia sanrafael.” The bee is ideal for the domestication study due to its solitary nature and ability to be moved from one location to another.

“It is not a social bee, and that is good,” Cane said. “We can manage it in nesting straws and move it around from field to field.”

The purpose of the project is to find a practical means of providing stable pollination for native grass and flower growers in the Four Corners, Cane said.

“We are really trying to find something really practical,” he said. “You have to be sure you have the right bees present. There is a real wide range and list of flowers we are using to see how it works with the bee.”

Hammon and Cane are looking for producers in Montezuma County who would be interested in experimenting with the bees. The county is an excellent case study for the project because many of the grasses and flowers federal agencies are interested in are native to the area.

“A number of the plants are in your area,” Cane said. “One of them is the firecracker penstemon, and then you also have northern sweet vetch. There are so many species in Montezuma County.”

Candidates for the research project would have a degree of familiarity handling bees, according to Cane.

“We are looking for people who would be successful in multiplying them,” he said. “Specifically, we are seeking those who have had experience managing another genus (of bees). We want to put these bees in the hands of people who have managed bees before and understand the biology.”

The benefits of the bee project could extend beyond individual growers in the county, Cane said.

“If we can get a few of these native species on the landscape, we would be successful in feeding a big part of the native bee community,” Cane said. “It would benefit the entire landscape of the Four Corners.”

For more information, contact Hammon at 970-244-1838.

Reach Kimberly Benedict at kimberlyb@cortezjournal.com and to read the original article, please see http://www.cortezjournal.com/article/20110301/NEWS04/703019959/Native-bees-have-impact-in-county