Bees visiting tree flowers in rainforest canopies

Bees are a relatively-well known and important group of insects, yet major gaps in our knowledge of bees remain. Very recently, there has been a small, but growing, body of literature and awareness of the importance of canopies to bees. Some studies and reports have found vertical stratification of bee communities and the relative abundance of otherwise “rare” species using canopies. Here I present two case studies of canopy-specialist bees in the tropics. First, the masked bee, Pharohylaeus lactiferus (Hymenoptera: Colletidae) was found after an almost 100 year absence from records. This species appears to be a canopy and floral specialist. Second, is an entirely new and unknown radiation of Hylaeus species on Fiji that has gone essentially undetected over ten years of relatively intensive sampling and research. The Fijian Hylaeus also appear to be canopy and potentially floral specialists. These discoveries are both interesting and important in terms of how we conduct research and manage ecosystems. The way that bee and pollination researchers sample has been mostly ground-based and inherently biased — particularly when sampling in vertically-complex habitats. These biases are apparent in both the data and interpretations that result from our works and need to be addressed and acknowledged. Hence, there is an emerging and exciting discussion to be ahead about the bees and the trees. This discussion will inform us about how we look at biodiversity, climate change, land-management, ecology, and much more.