For bees and other social insects, being able to exchange information is vital for the success of their colony. One way honeybees do this is through their waggle... more

Lost to science for decades and thought perhaps extinct, Wallace's giant bee (Megachile pluto) has been rediscovered in an Indonesian rainforest. more

A living individual of a bee species feared to be extinct has been found in the Indonesian islands... more

Researchers rediscovered the world’s largest bee living in the forests of an island of Indonesia. more

The bee towers over its apian cousins. Females have been recorded as being at least an inch and a half long. Add to that a pair of gigantic... more

Thumb-size bee found in Indonesian forest for the first time since 1981 more

The world's largest bee—a giant insect roughly the size of a human thumb—has been rediscovered in a remote part of Indonesia in its first sighting in nearly 40 years, researchers said Thursday. more

The world's biggest bee species has been feared extinct since it was last seen in 1981. more

New research revealed that foreign honey bees often account for more than 90 percent of pollinators observed visiting flowers in San Diego, considered a global biodiversity hotspot. The non-native bees have established... more

As cities get bigger and cover more land, the need to make space for wildlife – including insects – in urban areas has become more pressing. Research has... more

Hike around the natural habitats of San Diego County and it becomes abundantly clear that honey bees, foreign to the area, are everywhere. In a study published last year, researchers at the... more

New form of self-fertilization caught on video for the first time more

Most plant species on earth are reliant on insects for pollination, including more than 30% of the food crops we eat. With insects facing rapid global decline, it is crucial that scientists understand which insects are important pollinators... more

A pollination biologist is using quantum dots to track the fate of individual pollen grains. This is breaking new ground in a field of research that has been hampered by the lack of a universal method to track. more

A pollination biologist from Stellenbosch University in South Africa is using quantum dots to track the fate of individual pollen grains. This is breaking new ground in a field of research that has been hampered by the lack... more

A record 1.75 million Bavarians signed a petition to seek a referendum to "save the bees," a move that could have huge consequences for the German farming industry and environmental... more

Honeybees use the waggle dance to share information about food-site locations with nestmates. However, the importance of this behavior in colony foraging success remains unclear. We... more

A study of woodland star wildflowers in the western United States has found remarkable diversity in the scent compounds produced by their flowers. Every species of... more

Nearly half of all insect species worldwide are in rapid decline and a third could disappear altogether, according to a study warning of dire consequences for crop pollination and natural food chains. more

Modern DNA-based methods provide entirely new insight into the interaction between different species in nature. Researchers can finally reveal the details of who is eating whom, who pollinates what flower and who lives on whose skin... more

Researchers have developed a framework that explains how bees use environmental signals to collectively cluster and continuously ventilate the hive. more

This week’s top Science news more

Researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, have discovered that insects leave tiny DNA traces on the flowers they visit. This newly developed eDNA method holds a vast potential for documenting unknown insect-plant interactions,... more

The abilities of various bee species to disperse influences the pattern of their population's genetic structure, which, in turn, can constrain how they respond to environmental change, researchers report. more

The abilities of various bee species to disperse influences the pattern of their population's genetic structure, which, in turn, can constrain how they respond to environmental change, as reported by an international team of... more

Researchers set out to test whether bees could do math, building on a groundbreaking finding that bees understand the concept of zero. The new study shows bees can be taught to recognize colors as symbolic representations for addition... more

These tiny mathematicians can add and subtract. more

Many animals understand numbers at a basic level for use in essential tasks such as foraging, shoaling, and resource management. However, complex arithmetic operations, such as addition and subtraction, using symbols and/or... more

Honey bees can add and subtract using colors as symbols more

Researchers have found bees can do basic mathematics, in a discovery that expands our understanding of the relationship between brain size and brain power. more

If you've ever walked past a bees nest on a hot summer day, you've probably been too focused on avoiding getting stung, rather than stopping to wonder how all those bees stay... more

Growing only in the U.S. Southwest, wild Joshua trees evolved a rare, fussy pollination scheme. more

Walking through our gardens in Australia, we may not realise that buzzing around us is one of our greatest natural resources. Bees... more

Agricultural production benefits enormously from flower-visiting bees and other flower-visiting insects. Because of their supply of flowering plants and opportunities for nesting, hedgerows and the edges of forests represent important habitats for pollinators. A team from... more

It's about time for the annual mass migration of honeybees to California, and new research is helping lower the chances the pollinators and their offspring will... more

Agricultural production benefits enormously from flower-visiting bees and other insects. Hedgerows and the edges of forests represent important habitats for pollinators. Scientists have investigated whether hedgerows and their proximity to forests might affect the pollination of... more

'Fungicides, often needed for crop protection, are routinely used during almond bloom, but in many cases growers were also adding insecticides to the mix. Our research shows that some combinations... more

It's about time for the annual mass migration of honeybees to California, and new research is helping lower the chances the pollinators and their offspring will die while they're visiting... more

For pollinating butterflies, it is more important to be close to forests than to agricultural fields, according to a study of 32,000 butterflies by researchers at Linköping University and the Swedish University of Agricultural... more

For pollinating butterflies, it is more important to be close to forests than to agricultural fields, according to a study of 32,000 butterflies by researchers in Sweden. The results provide important knowledge about how... more

The UK’s space sector has seen significant growth in income, exports and employment with total income now standing at £14.8 billion, Science Minister Chris... more

Insect pollinators are vital to the existence of almost 90 percent of the world's flowering plants, including a large portion of food products. Blueberries and cherries,... more

For the first time, researchers have catalogued every pollinator protection policy enacted by state governments from 2000-2017. The resulting database of information allows everyone from legislators to the general public... more

Insect pollinators are vital to the existence of almost 90 percent of the world's flowering plants, including a large portion of food products. Blueberries and cherries,... more

Modern agriculture's outputs can be measured both in dollars paid in the market and also in non-market costs, known as externalities. Soil, nutrients, groundwater, pollinators, wildlife diversity, and habitat (among other things) can be lost when crop yields... more

When it comes to making decisions, most of us are influenced to some degree by other people, whether that's choosing a restaurant or a political candidate. We want to know... more

A beekeeper teamed up with the Signal Processing Laboratory 5 and a group of EPFL students to develop an app that counts the number of Varroa mites in beehives. This parasite is one of the two... more

Researchers have found that the relationship between the Varroa mite and virulence of a virus of honey bees, has been misunderstood. The study challenges the long-held belief that the parasitic Varroa mite transmits the... more

Bees are among the most important species responsible for pollinating about one-third of the world's food supply, with their contribution in the United States alone valued at $15-20 billion each... more

Modern agriculture's large monoculture fields grow a lot of corn and soybeans, planted annually. The outputs from row crops can be measured both in dollars paid in the market and also in non-market costs, known as externalities. Soil,... more

Researchers at the University of Sydney have found that the relationship between the tissue-sucking Varroa mite and virulence of a virus of honey bees, has most likely been misunderstood. more

We've known for a while that honey bees are smart cookies. They have excellent navigation skills,... more