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Silas Bossert, assistant professor in the WSU Department of Entomology, holds a pinned specimen of the new bee species that he and colleagues in Texas and Kansas worked to identify. To classify the bee, scientists performed detective work on its DNA, body parts, and use of floral resources
Photo Credit: Seth Truscott, WSU CAHNRS
Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary: Discovery of Andrena cenizophila
- Main Discovery: Entomologists have identified a new species of solitary mining bee, Andrena cenizophila, which exhibits an exceptionally exclusive biological relationship with the native Texas purple sage shrub, also known as cenizo.
- Methodology: Researchers extracted DNA from the legs of a female specimen for genome sequencing and combined this genetic data with a comparative morphological analysis of physical features, including antennae and reproductive organs, alongside field observations of collected pollen.
- Key Data: The ground-dwelling bee measures less than one inch in length and gathers its entire pollen supply exclusively from the Texas purple sage during the shrub's brief, roughly one-week mass bloom following regional rains.
- Significance: Andrena cenizophila is currently the only known mining bee globally to rely solely on one specific species of shrub, highlighting an extreme case of floral specialization and an unusually tight developmental window for native pollinators.
- Future Application: Paratype specimens will be preserved in Washington State University's M.T. James Entomological Collection and the Smithsonian Institution to serve as the baseline genetic and morphological reference for identifying and cataloging future biological discoveries.
- Branch of Science: Entomology, Taxonomy, Evolutionary Biology
- Additional Detail: The physical nesting sites of Andrena cenizophila remain undiscovered, presenting an ongoing biological mystery regarding how the species sustains its developmental life cycle and feeds its young during the extensive periods when its host plant is not blooming.
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| A view of the new mining bee species, Andrena cenizophila, identified by researchers from WSU, the Central Texas Melittological Institute, and the University of Kansas Photo Credit: Courtesy of Silas Bossert, WSU |
Entomologists have discovered a new species of mining bee that has an unusually tight relationship with cenizo, the official state shrub of Texas.
Silas Bossert, assistant professor in Washington State University’s Department of Entomology, worked with colleagues in Texas and Kansas to identify and describe the new mining bee, Andrena cenizophila. Published in the Journal of Melittology, their findings offer new insights into the diverse group of native pollinators.
The new bee species’ name, “cenizophila,” means lover of cenizo, the native Texas purple sage, also known as Texas Ranger. Field observations and analysis of pollen found on specimens revealed that Texas Ranger is likely the bee’s sole pollen source.
“To our knowledge, this bee is the only mining bee in the world that is specifically focused on this one particular kind of shrub,” said Bossert, lead author of the study. “The only pollen that we found on this bee is from flowers of purple sage.”
Found in southwestern Texas and the central state of Coahuila in Mexico, this solitary, ground-dwelling bee is less than an inch long. Melittologist Jack Neff of the Central Texas Melittological Institute first collected the bee decades ago, but he and other experts had not classified and named it until now.
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| WSU Assistant Professor Silas Bossert holds samples of the new mining bee species, Andrena cenizophila, that he recently helped identify Photo Credit: Seth Truscott, WSU CAHNRS |
“Jack realized he couldn’t identify it as anything known,” Bossert said. “It didn’t match any of the existing subgroups. Without genetic information, we weren’t sure where it fit.”
To find its place in the mining bee family tree, researchers performed detective work on the bee’s DNA, body parts, and use of floral resources. Bossert broke off three legs from a female specimen to extract DNA and sequence its genome.
Features including antennae, body shape, and the male reproductive organ, combined with genetic information, placed the specimen as most closely related to a central Mexican mining bee.
In its native habitat, Texas purple sage bursts into a mass bloom that lasts about a week following rains. These blooms can happen multiple times throughout the year, but the peak is in late spring.
“Andrena cenizophila needs to get all the food for its brood during the main bloom,” Bossert said. “That tight window is very unusual for a bee. What does it do during the rest of the year?”
A bee systematist, Bossert studies how bee species are related. Getting those relationships right is vital for properly naming, cataloging, and understanding species.
“The names we give to organisms should reflect their evolutionary history,” Bossert said.
Taxonomic housekeeping, as he calls it, helps bring order to our understanding of the natural world.
At 1,800 species and growing, the mining bees are one of the largest genera of animals on Earth.
WSU’s M.T. James Entomological Collection, a museum of more than 3 million arthropods, will now house two of the new mining bee’s paratypes — representative specimens used and mentioned in the original description of the species.
“These are among the most valuable specimens, the originals used to describe the species,” Bossert said.
Should other researchers collect a similar insect, they will be able to compare it with these paratypes to help with identification. Other specimens will be deposited in the entomology collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
“Congratulations to Dr. Bossert and his partners for their discovery,” commented Raj Khosla, Cashup Davis Family Endowed Dean of WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences. “I am excited to see this newly described species join the James Collection at WSU, where entomologists are combining new technology with traditional techniques to help us better know the world we share with insects.”
With as many as 200 new bee species described annually, Andrena cenizophila is not alone in its novelty. And mysteries remain. Researchers have yet to find a cenizophilanest. Learning how the bee develops and feeds its young could reveal more about the life cycle of this unique pollinator.
“There’s still a lot to be discovered,” Bossert said.
Published in journal: Journal of Melittology
Authors: Silas Bossert, Wyatt Zabinski, and John L Neff
Source/Credit: Washington State University | Seth Truscott
Reference Number: ent031826_01