Bee Atlas Data Summary: 2024

BC Bee Atlas Data Summary - 2024

Specimens were collected by volunteer Master Melittologists who hand-netted bees from flowers. Bee specimens were retained, pinned, labelled, and submitted to the BC Bee Atlas for identification. The flowers that bees were collected on were photographically documented using the citizen science platform iNaturalist, which produces bee-plant association records. Bee specimens collected from a single species of plant on a single day comprised one sampling event.

Bee surveying

Survey locations

Regional districts

Bee diversity

The five most frequently collected species were Bombus flavifrons (196 specimens), Bombus vancouverensis (168), Bombus melanopygus (80), Agapostemon subtilior (73), and Halictus tripartitus (71), comprising 23% of all specimens collected. Just one specimen was collected for 32 of the 136 species identified.

Plant associations

In 2024, Bee Atlas volunteers collected 1975 bee plant association records via iNaturalist (note some bees specimens do not have an associated plant observation). bees were collected on plants from 40 plant families, comprising 130 plant genera and 141 plant species. Top 10 families and genera are shown here.

Note: Grindelia, Gaillardia, Leucanthmum, Centuarea, Solidago, Achillea, and Cirsium are all in the plant family Asteraceae. Phacelia belongs in Boraginaceae, Trifolium belongs in Fabaceae, and Rubus belongs in Rosaceae

Listed species

The provincial Conservation Status Rank uses letters and numbers to categorize the risk species are at of disappearing.

Based on rank, species are assigned to red, blue and yellow lists that help identify species that are or may become endangered or threatened (BC Conservation Data Centre, accessed Dec 2025).

Red list - species that are extirpated (locally extinct), endangered, or threatened.
Blue list - species that are at risk and considered to be of special concern.
Yellow list - species that are apparently secure and not at risk of extinction.

There are currently three species on the red list Bombus bohemicus, Bombus suckleyi, and Dufourea dilatipes. Bee Atlas volunteers have yet to collect these species. However, 18 of 43 species on the Blue List were collected in 2024.

Bombus terricola © rushingriverbees

Coelioxys rufitasis © morrisoncreek

Non-native species

Bee Atlas volunteers collected 222 bee specimens that are not native in BC, comprising 11 of 16 currently known non-native species.

Specialist species

Specialist bees may forage on just one or two species of plants (narrow oligolecty), while others forage on multiple species often from within a single plant family (broad oligolecty). Thirty three of 98 specialist bee species known in BC were collected in 2024 (list developed with reference to Jarrod Fowler’s work on pollen specialist bees).