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Blue bee cafe10/12/2023 ![]() The Florida Aquarium just made a breakthrough that will help save the third largest coral reef in the worldīlue calamintha bees are endemic to Florida, and have only been found in scrub habitat in the Lake Wales Ridge – one of the nation’s fastest-disappearing ecosystems. Kimmel and his adviser, Jaret Daniels, are currently working on a two-year research project to determine the blue calamintha bee’s current population and the species’ nesting and feeding habits. While finding a blue calamintha has reassured scientists that the bee is still present despite the impact humans have had on their environment, there is still little known about the species’ behavior, biology, and habitat needs. “In reading about this unique behavior we were pretty shocked to see it.”Īfter catching the bee in March, the researcher used macrophotography and checked in with lead authors who studied the species to confirm the insect was a blue calamintha. “We observed a shiny little blue bee grabbing the flower and rubbing its head on the top portion of the flower two or three times before moving on to another flower,” Kimmel told CNN. Kimmel spotted the bee, known for its unique way of collecting pollen, when he and a volunteer were installing a bee condo in the Lake Wales Ridge near some Ashe’s calamint – another threatened species that blue calaminthas depend on for food. The Ashe's calamint, the blue bee's primary floral host.
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