Seven Hawaiian Bees Risk Extinction
By John Platt in 60-Second Extinction Countdown, Scientific American
March 31, 2009
The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation last week petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior to protect seven Hawaiian bee species under the Endangered Species Act. All seven species of these “yellow-faced bees” — Hylaeus anthracinus, H. longiceps, H. assimulans, H. facilis, H. hilaris, H. kuakea and H. mana — have seen tremendous declines since they were first observed just over a century ago. None exist outside the Hawaiian Islands.
Read the entire article on Scientific American’s website.
April 21st, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Did you know that the bulbu birds are also responsible for wiping out hives of the honey bee population? I have watched those birds perched on branches of trees by the hive and swoop at the returning bees, one after another, day after day, until there were no more bees flying in and out of the hive.
It’s really weird to see no more seeds being formed on the trees around the yard, even though they are not native trees.
Can we get rid of the bulbus?
Thank you,
Maxine Lee
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I live on Maui, and I see at least 7-10 individual bees just dead as hell on the sidewalks for no apparent reason, just dead. Saw a bee on 1 occasion that looked like it was having serious neurological problems, it was just crawling around on the ground with its face against the sidewalk going nowhere but in circles.
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:29 pm
While I’m thinking about it. We have A LOT of GMO crops here in Hawaii. What’s the chance that the modifications to the food crops pollinated by bees are what’s killing them off? Could it be that one of the mods has created an effective neurotoxin?
June 25th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Hello Xerces Society. Could you please explain the above letter. Is the letter writer referring to the introduced European honey bee? What is the Bulbu bird and where is it’s native habitat? Is the letter writer living in the Bulbu bird’s native habitat? If the Bulbu bird is native to any of the territory now presently under U.S. jurisdiction, then the Bulbu bird almost certainly comes under the protection of the Migratory Bird Treaty. Why should the letter writer be suprised that those NON-native trees be not pollinated, they’re NON-native, unless, of course, those NON-native trees would be pollinated, coincedentally, by native bees.
September 14th, 2009 at 3:04 am
These endemic Hawaiian bees are not the introduced honeybee that we usually see in town. I would think that they are only found in pristine native habitat with native Hawaiian plants, which they pollinate, and which would explain why they are endangered. It’s unlikely that one will encounter a native insect (or anything native and rare) unless one went hiking somewhere with native forest.
I’m guessing that Bulbu = Red Vented Bulbul, the introduced and invasive bird that we see everyday in Honolulu.
October 5th, 2009 at 9:22 am
These endemic Hawaiian bees are not the introduced honeybee that we usually see in town. I would think that they are only found in pristine native habitat with native Hawaiian plants, which they pollinate, and which would explain why they are endangered. It’s unlikely that one will encounter a native insect (or anything native and rare) unless one went hiking somewhere with native forest.
I’m guessing that Bulbu = Red Vented Bulbul, the introduced and invasive bird that we see everyday in Honolulu.