Massive 5.6 Million Bee Aggregation Discovered Under New York Cemetery

A recent study published in Apidologie has identified one of the largest known populations of ground-nesting bees, estimating around 5.6 million Andrena regularis located beneath East Lawn Cemetery in Ithaca, New York. The research, conducted between March 30 and May 16, 2023, involved the use of emergence traps to gather 3,251 specimens across 16 different species. Bryan Danforth, an entomologist at Cornell, suggested that the bee population could vary between 3.1 million and 8 million. Lead researcher Steven Hoge pointed out that these bees can survive the winter as adults. Since its establishment in 1878, the cemetery has been home to this species since the early 1900s. Danforth cautioned against the destruction of nesting habitats, while Sean Brady stressed the importance of conserving common species for pollination stability.