Species occurrence records for native and non-native bees, wasps and other insects collected using mainly pan, malaise, and vane trapping; and insect netting methods in Canada, Mexico, the non-contiguous United States, U.S. Territories (specifically U.S. Virgin Islands), U.S. Minor Outlying Islands and other global locations with the bulk of the specimens coming from the Eastern United States often from Federal lands such as USFWS, NPS, DOD, USFS. Some records also contain notes regarding plants or substrates from which insects were collected or that were present and/or in flower at the time the insects were collected. Unless otherwise noted, taxonomic determinations (identifications) were completed by Sam Droege (USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center- EESC, Native Bee Laboratory) and Clare Maffei (USFWS, Inventory and Monitoring Branch).
The EESC Native Bee Lab currently keeps only a small synoptic collection, rare and voucher specimens are deposited in the Smithsonian National Collection (NMNH) and widely distributed to other institutions for DNA, revisions, and augmentation of existing collections. Surplus specimens are also made available to students to learn their identifications. Corrections to any of our determinations are always welcomed. Common species that are not in demand for surplus are usually destroyed and the pins recycled. Recent revisions to Lasioglossum, Ceratina, and to a much lesser extent Triepeolus and Epeolus and other small groups have rendered determinations prior to those revisions out of date for species involved in name changes and users should account for that during analyses. Current data (included information on specimen codes without identifications) are always available without charge directly from Sam Droege.
