Oregon is home to some of the richest bee biodiversity in the nation. Around 600 species can be found here, but the exact number is unknown because no one has really taken a good look. Until now. The Oregon Bee Atlas is a one-of-a-kind program in the U.S. that is led by volunteers working under the umbrella of OSU Extension. Over the past three years, these volunteers have contributed 70,000 new bee records from every county in the state. They have found some rare species including a metallic sweat bee from the Alvord Desert and a wool carder bee that was found nesting in the sand dunes around Newport.

There are many species of squash bees in North America. What these species have in common is they only collect pollen from the squash plants from the genus Cucurbita. In fact, it?s relatively unusual for a bee (and we have around 630 species in Oregon) to be so specifically connected to such a narrow group of plants. Squash bees will only visit plants in the genus Cucurbita, which includes not only winter squash, but zucchini and gourds. These bees were unknown to Oregon until it was spotted by a participant in youth Bee Biology Camp in Ashland (Best et al 2019). The bees had finally arrived in Oregon! 

Reference:

Best, L.R., Marshall, C.J., Red-Laird, S., 2019. Confirmed presence of the squash bee, Peponapis pruinosa (Say, 1837) in the state of Oregon and specimen-based observational records of Peponapis (Say, 1837) (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) in the Oregon State Arthropod Collection. Catalog: Oregon State Arthropod Collection. 3(3): 2-6.