Nature is confusing and complex. Taxonomy is one of those big, intimidating science words. But taxonomy can really help make sense of nature. Here’s an example of how I use it to learn about different kinds of bees.
As I got into gardening I began to notice insects. One of those insects was bees. I saw bumble bees and bigger bumble bees (which turned out to be carpenter bees). And of course there were honey bees. But to me they were basically just bees that were good for pollination and making honey. Then I discovered iNaturalist and thought I could identify all my bees. Not so easy as I found out. As it turns out there are a lot of different kinds of bees, some 400 different kinds and that’s just in Maryland!
What is taxonomy?
As I took more and more pictures I realized a lot of these bees are very small and look very similar. It was about this time, I began using a project called the Maryland Biodiversity Project (MBP). What it does is collect images from people like me all over Maryland and organizes them based on taxonomy. This is when I began to make sense of nature with taxonomy.
Taxonomy is basically all about classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Different methods of taxonomy have gone on throughout history but the current system is based around evolutionary relationships among organisms.
As you can see with the fox above, taxonomy is also a system of rank with the class names in Latin. The Latin name for the species red fox is Vulpes vulpes. Vulpes vulpes is in the genus Vulpes which means true fox. Vulpes is in the family canidae which means dog. Canidae is in the order carnivora which means meat eating. Carnivora is in the class Mammalia which means they feed their young milk. And so on. The point being patterns begin to emerge and patterns are key to organizing things in nature.
So, back to my bees. As I was saying the bees I was seeing were small and to me looked very similar. They’re also hard to take pictures of as they’re always on the move. As a result my pictures aren’t that great. The experts from iNaturalist were able to narrow some of my bees down to the family and sometimes the genus but very rarely the species in taxonomy. But this is fine. With 400 different species, Latin names are meaningless to me without some way of organizing them. In short, taxonomy is sort of like a map that gives us a view of the highways as well as the small country roads. And that’s where the adventure begins.
Bee Families in my Garden
Andrenidae, Mining Bees
These bees are solitary ground-nesters. Only one bee in my garden has been identified in this family and it is in the genus Andrena. Of this genus, there are 85 species recorded in Maryland. They come out in early spring. I took this picture in April of last year. One bee in this genus specializes on pollinating the ephemeral flower, spring beauty (Claytonia caroliniana).
Apidae
Apidae is the largest bee family with 112 recorded species in Maryland. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes as well as behaviors. They can be very big like the eastern carpenter bee or small like the small carpenter bee. Apidae includes bumblebees, honey bees and carpenter bees. Most bees in this family are solitary but a few such as bumblebees and honey bees are social. Most are ground nesters.
Colletidae, Cellophane Bees
Also known as plasterer or polyester bees because they make their nest cells from secretions that dry into a plaster or cellophane like substance. This is the only bee from this family I’ve seen in my garden.
Halictidae, Sweat Bees
This is the second largest family of bees with 120 recorded species in Maryland. They are usually dark colored and often metallic looking like the green bee shown above on the left. They are called sweat bees because they are often attracted to perspiration. Most of these bees are solitary ground nesters but a few are social.
Megachilidae, Mason and Leafcutter Bee
Like the name suggests, these bees generally make their nests from mud or leaves. Unlike other bees that have hairs on the hind legs that collect pollen, these bees carry pollen on the bottom of their abdomen (or bottoms). These bees are mostly solitary.
As you can see, nature is extremely diverse. Even in my little garden. It can be overwhelming but with a little help from field guides and organizational systems such as taxonomy it begins to make some sense. The exciting thing is there is always more to learn!
To learn more about bees check out a post I wrote about them. To learn about habitat gardens go here.
