The long lost Blue Calamintha Bee of Florida made a surprise appearance to researchers in Lake Wales Ridge in Central Florida since its last recorded sighting in 2016.

The Blue Calamintha Bee Research Project

Working on a two-year research project on the Blue Calamintha Bee are Dr. Chase Kimmel and Jaret Daniels. Dr. Kimmel is a postdoctoral associate whose research focuses on the conservation of pollinators, as well as their habitat. And Daniels is the director of Florida Museum's McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity.

According to Dr. Kimmel, he was open to the possibility that they might not find the bee at all. He had every reason to doubt. The bee was first described in 2011, and the last recorded sighting was in 2016.

Scientists were not sure of the existence of the bee, as there were only four records of the bee in four locations within the 16 square miles habitat in Central Florida's Lake Wales Ridge. The Lakes Wales Region, the habitat where the bee is thought to be confined, is a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot. Here, you will also find one of the fastest disappearing ecosystems, according to a study done by U.S. Fish and Wildlife in 2015.

On March 9, as Kimmel and a volunteer was setting up traps for the bees, they saw a blue bee bopping its head. They caught the bee, examined it, and positively identified it as the rare blue Calamintha bee. The head-bopping movement is done to transfer the pollen from its head to the stomach.

No Current Protection Status?

The Blue Calaminth Bee is considered a "species of greatest conservation need." However, it has no protection whatsoever--neither state nor federal protection. The plant on which the bee is highly dependent on Calamintha ashei, a blooming plant which is also known as Ashe's Calamint, is considered as a state threatened species in Florida.

In 2015, there was a petition to include the bee in the said classification. However, due to the lack of information regarding the Blue Calamintha Bee, it did not qualify for the endangered species list.

For Kimmel, it is still too early to tell if the bee will make it to the endangered species list, as he believes that more research about the Blue Calamintha Bee needs to be done, which is why they are venturing into a two-year project.

Kimmel and Daniels will be working on a two-year project to study the bee's population status and distribution, and nesting and feeding habits. This study, according to a spokesperson at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, could help determine whether it qualifies for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

COVID-19 Pandemic Shutdown Setbacks

Since the pandemic shutdown, Daniels and Kimmel have faced some setbacks. Kimmel has been living at the Archbold Biological Station since March to assess the area and the challenges of bee's survival. But the lockdown has prevented Daniels and the deployment of field researchers in the area.

Florida Museum volunteers who provided assistance in the early stage of the project have also suspended volunteer operations due to the pandemic.

The timing of the shutdown is also the bee's flight season, which is in the middle of March until May. Despite this, the study team is hopeful that more questions about the blue bee will be answered when regular field operation resumes.