An Annotated Checklist of the Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Vermont with Conservation Status and Natural History Notes

Abstract

This is the first comprehensive checklist and conservation assessment of the bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) fauna of the State of Vermont. This checklist of 351 species (plus 1 morphospecies) is based on 79,206 open-access data records available from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), nearly all (98%) of which were identified by an author or trusted collaborator, including 100% of the 24,270 research-grade observations from the community science platform iNaturalist. Through fieldwork and digitization of museum collections, we documented 9 species previously unreported from New England and as many as 24 novel host-parasite relationships. Overall, Vermont shares much of the bee fauna of neighboring states, with a notable contingent of northern and western species not regularly found elsewhere in New England or New York. Conservation rankings indicate that as many as 60% of the bee species in the state are vulnerable (S3 or lower). Detailed species accounts are provided as supplementary material, which cover the phenology, state-wide distribution, conservation status, and floral preferences of Vermont's bee fauna.