US Puts Bumblebee On the Endangered Species List For First Time (npr.org)

For the first time for a bumblebee and a bee species in the U.S., the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated the bumblebee an endangered species. 

The protected status goes into effect on February 10, and includes requirements for federal protections and the development of a recovery plan.

NPR reports:

  "Today's Endangered Species listing is the best -- and probably last -- hope for the recovery of the rusty patched bumble bee," NRDC Senior Attorney Rebecca Riley said in a statement from the Xerces Society, which advocates for invertebrates.

 "Bumble bees are dying off, vanishing from our farms, gardens, and parks, where they were once found in great numbers." 

Large parts of the Eastern and Midwestern United States were once crawling with these bees, Bombus affinis, but the bees have suffered a dramatic decline in the last two decades due to habitat loss and degradation, along with pathogens and pesticides. 

Indeed, the bee was found in 31 states and Canadian provinces before the mid- to late-1990s, according to the final rule published in the Federal Register. 

But since 2000, it has been reported in only 13 states and Ontario, Canada. 

It has seen an 88 percent decline in the number of populations and an 87 percent loss in the amount of territory it inhabits. 

This means the species is vulnerable to extinction, the rule says, even without further habitat loss or insecticide exposure. 

Canada designated the species as endangered in 2012.

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Without Bee's crops can't get pollinated.

Although wasp do pollinate as well.