3. Just 28 Native Bee Species in NZ

My mother thinks that nobody wants to know about native bees. “Kris, just don’t talk about native bees,” she told me after she learned I was going to help Bruno with entertainment at her retirement village. “The people here will find it boring!” Our family has had beekeepers over several generations on both sides of the family tree so I have no idea why my mother isn’t as fascinated with bees as I am.

“It is important that we teach people about the importance of bees, especially our native bees,” I remind my mother. She rolls her eyes and tells me that people will fall asleep while I talk. Well, I think its worth it, I tell her. The more people understand the importance of our native bees and that they are disappearing, the more likely we can do something about it before its too late.

So, as I mentioned in my last post, there are more than 20,000 bee species worldwide, with over 4,000 native species in the United States and more than 1,600 in Australia. So why does New Zealand only have 28 native species?

Some researchers suggest that New Zealand’s ancient bee populations may have gone extinct due to massive volcanic eruptions and flooding. Each time these events occurred, new bee species likely migrated to New Zealand, possibly from nearby Tasmania or Australia. This could explain why New Zealand has such a limited variety of bee species. Additionally, the lack of diverse plant species in New Zealand might also be a contributing factor; if there were a greater range of flowering plants, we would likely have more bee species.

Geographic isolation also plays a significant role in this phenomenon. The nearest landmass to New Zealand is Australia, which is over 2,000 km away across the Tasman Sea. Other Pacific Islands show similar low numbers of native bee species, with Fiji home to just 26 species and Samoa to 20 species.

Interestingly, some bee species have made their way to New Zealand without human assistance. For example, Hyleaus perhumilis, a native bee species, is shared between New Zealand and Australia. A more recent discovery revealed that Leioproctus launcestonensis from Australia and Leioproctus otautahi from New Zealand are actually the same species, further suggesting that New Zealand's native bees originated in Australia.

It’s likely that many of New Zealand's native bees arrived from Australia, possibly on floating logs or debris. New Zealand's native bees are solitary, unlike the social honeybees that live in hives. These bees lay their eggs inside logs or in the ground, leaving enough food for the larvae to survive through the winter. Fascinatingly, research shows that these bees can delay hatching until the conditions are favorable, adjusting to changes in temperature or weather.

In conclusion, New Zealand’s geographic isolation is the main reason for the limited number of native bee species. The country’s geological history, marked by intense volcanic activity, may have repeatedly wiped out the local bee populations over millions of years. The presence of species that arrived from Australia without human intervention further supports the idea that New Zealand's native bees most likely originated there.