“Newly discovered non-stinging bee that sips your sweat”.

I thought this was pretty neat. I am allergic to bees, so avoiding getting stung is always a positive for me. I noticed that the bees look much different than your average honey bee. Why they would prefer a person’s arm pit sweat over the succulent nectar of a beautiful flower is somewhat baffling to me.

Wall Street Journal

A new species of sweat bee, Lasioglossum gotham, was discovered in the Brooklyn borough of New York in 2010, joining the growing catalog of easily overlooked wild native bees. Shown, a Lasioglossum gothamspecimen.

"They use humans as a salt lick," said entomologist John Ascher, who netted the first known specimen of the species in 2010 while strolling in Brooklyn's Prospect Park near his home. "They land on your arm and lap up the sweat."

These bees prefer sweaty people—over most animals—because the human diet usually is so salty that their perspiration is saturated with the essential nutrient, experts said. Yet most people never notice when the tiny bees alight on a bare arm or leg.

Sweat bees don't have a high profile outside academic circles. Unlike honeybees, which were originally imported from Europe, native bees don't make much honey. To their credit, though, sweat bees rarely sting; their occasional pinprick registers a one on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, the lowest on the four-point scale. (Bullet ants and the tarantula hawk wasp rate a four.)

-Propulsion.....

How is this a new species of bee? We've had these down here for as long as I can remember. We've always called them sweat bees and they tickle when they get on you.

reply to post by Propulsion

To their credit, though, sweat bees rarely sting; their occasional pinprick registers a one on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, the lowest on the four-point scale.

So its not non stinging, its just that their stings are not as painful as other bee's?

And these scientists have lived on the farm for how many days now?

Sweat bees...who woulda thought....rotflmao Farmers?

Originally posted by chrismicha77
How is this a new species of bee? We've had these down here for as long as I can remember. We've always called them sweat bees and they tickle when they get on you.

i was just about to post, i knew of them when i was a kid, how are these newly discovered lol

I've never heard of them so this was interesting to me. S&F

Originally posted by chrismicha77
How is this a new species of bee? We've had these down here for as long as I can remember. We've always called them sweat bees and they tickle when they get on you.

American media - concreting minds into the belief there is no other life outside of the borders of America

Looks like a Dirt Dobber to me...
They sting. They just aren't aggressive.

Originally posted by n00bUK
American media - concreting minds into the belief there is no other life outside of the borders of America

And if there is life outside America, Bear Grylls has already been there and ate all the bugs so that we dont have to

Might as well stay home our whole lives

if you read what the article says you'd see that it doesn't say they've never seen them before but that it's a new breed of sweat bee (this is not directed at the OPer). this means sweat bees are not new but this particular one is new.

as for the OP, not everyone knows about sweat bees. cut him/her some slack. sheesh.

reply to post by n00bUK


Excuse me, but what in his response or the OP leads you to assume that anyone here subscribes to that idea?

Like everyone else who posted, I've seen these things my whole life.
I've heard'em called sweat bees or corn flies. Maybe they are just getting around to classifying
them, but they sure ain't new.

Originally posted by GmoS719
Looks like a Dirt Dobber to me...
They sting. They just aren't aggressive.

We call them mud daubbers here. One summer I knocked the beginings of a nest off of a south facing wall of the garage several times before momma got the message and moved on. She would work all day building the mud up on the wall to make a little cave for herself and I would knock it down in a second. The next day she was back at it again. She started that nest over and over and over and finally she either died trying or she moved on. The spot she chose was right next to the spigot and I needed to be able to get to the water for the garden so couldnt have a bee hive right in that spot.

Originally posted by chrismicha77
How is this a new species of bee? We've had these down here for as long as I can remember. We've always called them sweat bees and they tickle when they get on you.

Well, the headline as used is perhaps misleading, but the first lines of the article say it's "A new species of sweat bee, Lasioglossum gotham", not that sweat bees in general are a new thing.




.

When I lived in Arkansas I got stung by sweat bees all the time. They've been known about for a long time and they DO sting. The stings weren't all that bad but it happened often since they actively seek out humans. Annoying little buggers. Not as bad as the ticks and chiggers though! We also had loads of small scorpions that would often show up in the bathroom. What a horrible place to live.