Help Us Choose a State Bee
With your help, the California Native Bee Society is launching a statewide effort to select a species that represents our remarkable native pollinators.
California is home to more than 1,600 bee species, but we don’t have an official State Bee yet. Here are the nominees that you submitted! You can use this page to help you choose the bee that you think best represents our state!
Click here to see our other state symbols.
Bee Family: Andrenidae
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Solitary
Size: 8-10 mm long
Nesting strategy: Underground burrows dug in bare soil
Pollen transport: On the hind legs and on specialized hairs on the back of the thorax
Range: Western North America, widespread across much of California
Diet: Specialist on Blennosperma flowers
Sociality: Solitary
Size: 7-9 mm long
Nesting strategy: Underground burrows
Pollen transport: On the hind legs
Range: California and Baja California endemic
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Solitary
Size: 10-13 mm long
Nesting strategy: Underground burrows
Pollen transport: On the hind legs and on specialized hairs on the back of the thorax
Range: Western North America, widespread across California
Diet: Specialist on mariposa lily (Calochortus spp.) flowers
Sociality: Solitary
Size: 6 mm long
Nesting strategy: Underground burrows
Pollen transport: On the hind legs
Range: Endemic to California and Baja California
Bee Family: Apidae
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Social, living in annual colonies
Size: 10-26 mm long, depending on caste
Nesting strategy: Underground cavities, often abandoned rodent burrows
Pollen transport: On the hind legs in “pollen baskets” (corbicula)
Range: Western North America
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Social, living in annual colonies
Size: 10-26 mm long, depending on caste
Nesting strategy: Underground cavities, often abandoned rodent burrows
Pollen transport: On the hind legs in “pollen baskets” (corbicula)
Range: Western North America along the coast
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Social, living in annual colonies
Size: 14-24 mm long, depending on caste
Nesting strategy: Underground cavities, often abandoned rodent burrows
Pollen transport: On the hind legs in “pollen baskets” (corbicula)
Range: Endemic to California and Baja California
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Social, living in annual colonies
Size: 10-21 mm long, depending on caste
Nesting strategy: Underground cavities, often abandoned rodent burrows
Pollen transport: On the hind legs in “pollen baskets” (corbicula)
Range: Western North America
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Social, living in annual colonies
Size: 8-21 mm long, depending on caste
Nesting strategy: Underground cavities, often abandoned rodent burrows
Pollen transport: On the hind legs in “pollen baskets” (corbicula)
Range: Western North America, especially in California, Oregon, and Washington
Diet: Specialist on cactus flowers
Sociality: Solitary, often nesting in dense aggregations
Size: 10-15 mm
Nesting strategy: Underground burrows with soil chimneys
Pollen transport: On the hind legs
Range: Western North America wherever their host plant cactus (Opuntia, Cylindropuntia spp.) occurs
Diet: Specialist on bindweeds and morning glories (Convolvulaceae)
Sociality: Solitary, often nesting in aggregations
Size: 10-15 mm
Nesting strategy: Underground burrows with soil chimneys
Pollen transport: On the hind legs
Range: Western North America, mostly restricted to California
Diet: Generalist, favoring spring wildflowers
Sociality: Solitary
Size: 10-21 mm
Nesting strategy: Underground burrows
Pollen transport: On the hind legs
Range: Western North America, especially in California
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Quasi-social, meaning there is parental care and overlapping generations in a nest, with reproductive division of labor, but not formalized castes like honey bees.
Nesting strategy: Tunnels excavated in wood
Pollen transport: On the hind legs
Range: Across the desert southwest, and introduced to the Pacific Islands and tropical regions
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Quasi-social, meaning there is parental care and overlapping generations in a nest, with reproductive division of labor, but not formalized castes like honey bees.
Nesting strategy: Tunnels excavated in dead wood
Pollen transport: On the hind legs
Range: Western North America, especially Oregon, California, and Baja California
Bee Family: Halictidae
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Solitary, sometimes nesting in large aggregations–like a single apartment in an apartment complex!
Size: ~10 mm long
Nesting strategy: Underground burrows
Pollen transport: On the hind legs
Range: Widespread across western North America
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Flexible eusocial
Size: 7-9 mm long
Nesting strategy: Underground burrows
Pollen transport: On hind legs
Range: Common in western North America
Bee Family: Megachilidae
Diet: Generalist, though floral records suggest that they have a slight preference for flowers in the legume family, such as the genus Lotus (Acmispon).
Sociality: Solitary
Size: 8-13 mm
Nesting strategy: Build nests out of plant resin and other gathered materials
Pollen transport: On the underside of the abdomen
Range: Widespread across western North America
Diet: Generalist, but often found on sunflowers (Helianthus spp.)
Sociality: Solitary
Size: 11-13 mm
Nesting strategy: Renters in pre-existing cavities
Pollen transport: On the underside of the abdomen
Range: Western North America
Diet: Generalist
Sociality: Solitary
Size: 11-13 mm
Nesting strategy: Renters in pre-existing cavities or underground in soil
Pollen transport: On the underside of the abdomen
Range: Widespread across North America