A North American bumblebee species that disappeared from half if its former habitats has made a grand reappearance in Wash. to the delight of scientists.
Bee researchers and enthusiasts have captured several photographs of the western bumblebee (Bombus occidentalis) over the past few weeks, Reuters reported.
"It's a pretty big deal," Rich Hatfield, a biologist for the Oregon-based Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, said. "It gives us hope that we can do some conservation work, and perhaps the species has a chance at repopulating its range."
Queen bee sightings have indicated the presence of several colonies in the area.
Last year, only one lonely western bumble bee was discovered in a Washington suburb, the bee is most easily identified by the white band around its lower body.
That sighting was the first in Washington for over a decade.
The now-rare bee once had abundant populations in: "northern California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, western Nebraska, western North Dakota, western South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, northern Arizona, and New Mexico," the USDA Forest Service reported.
The species has been declining drastically since 1998, as of last year they had essentially disappeared in "California, Oregon, Washington and southern British Columbia."
A group of University of Washington entomologists canvassed the park for western bee hives. While they were unable to locate any, they did photograph a number of the endangered insects and about three queens, Reuters reported.
The queen bees are expected to go into hibernation soon, and could produce more offspring next breeding season.
The scientists are "almost gidddy" from the discovery, Will Peterman, who spotted the first bee and accompanied researchers in the field, said.
Scientists aren't sure what caused the Bombus occidentalis, and three other bee species, to begin dying off. Researchers believe the sharp decline could be linked with "parasites, pesticides and habitat fragmentation."
Robbin Thorp, a retired entomology professor at the University of California believes the population decline could be linked to a joint effort to cultivate European bee populations in the mid-1990s.
During this time bees were shipped back and forth between Europe and the U.S., they could have been exposed to a fungus during this process.
The new population showing up around Washington may have developed a resistance to this fungus, or could be part of a population that was never exposed in the first place.
