Underground Bee Cities: Millions of Mining Bees Discovered Beneath a New York Cemetery
Researchers surveying East Lawn Cemetery in Ithaca, NY, estimated about 3–8 million ground-nesting mining bees (centered on Andrena regularis) occupy 1.5 acres, based on 10 emergence traps that captured 3,251 insects across 16 species; the midpoint estimate is 5.5 million. These solitary bees live in individual burrows with pollen provisions and no hive or queen. The site’s well-drained soil, flower diversity, low pesticide use, and quiet disturbance likely support such aggregations. The finding suggests large, hidden bee colonies may exist, prompting a citizen-science effort on iNaturalist to map more sites and protect them from paving or development.