“Alarming” — For the First Time Ever, Bees Added to the Endangered Species List

Justin Gardner October 4, 2016
 

“If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.” — Albert Einstein (allegedly)

On September 22 we reported that the rusty-patched bumblebee was proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be listed as an endangered species. This is a wake-up call to the problem of habitat destruction and pesticide use – particularly neonicotinoid pesticides – as this native bee is the first in the continental U.S. to be formally proposed for endangered species listing. However, as bees are concerned, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

While the plight of the bumblebee is finally getting the attention it deserves, other native bees are on a fast track to extinction and have already been declared endangered.

On September 30, for the first time ever, bees were put on the Endangered Species list.
Seven species of Hawaiian yellow-faced bee in the genus Hylaeus, once the most abundant insects on the tropical islands, are now so scarce that they one of the state’s least observed pollinators.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/7-bee-species-declared-endangered/#LHmbY2eRgM3MJbq7.99