A rare bee — the San Clemente Digger Bee — has been spotted out at Cabrillo National Monument’s Bayside Trail. The reason this discovery has some weight is because this type of bee has been rarely seen on the mainland — known to only be on San Clemente Island.
According to the National Parks Service, in early September 2020, a population of Anthophora urbana clementina (San Clemente Digger Bee) was discovered at Cabrillo National Monument.
Community scientists and researchers began gathering data about the island bees to confirm their presence on the mainland, and a scientific note was later published in the journal Apidologie.
However, despite searching the park, the bee wasn’t seen again on the mainland for three years — until this year, on July 29. On that day an individual of the species was spotted foraging on California Aster on Cabrillo National Monument’s Bayside Trail. Just two days later, another individual was photographed on the same trail visiting California Buckwheat.
The San Clemente Digger Bee is a subspecies of Anthophora urbana native to the southernmost Channel Island, which is owned and operated by the U.S. Navy.
The National Park Service put out a statement on the discovery:
“The great mystery as to why and how the San Clemente Digger Bee made its way to Cabrillo National Monument has yet to be solved. However, its presence prompted an uptick in observations and recorded data of other bees by researchers and community scientists, expanding our knowledge of local species.”
Rangers encourage visitors to help them unravel this and many other wildlife mysteries, by dropping by for a visit and recording nature observations with community science apps like iNaturalist.
News sources:
The presence of a bee species unique to San Clemente Island foraging for pollen on Point Loma kind of begs the question as to whether or not these little fellows hitched a ride on the Navy supply plane that makes weekly trips to San Clemente Island and North Island. The Navy hires professional biologists to study rare bird populations being impacted by military activities on the island, so I would think the first thing for the Cabrillo National Monument park rangers would be to give the Navy biologists a call and compare notes.
They must of course, check the bee’s military service record first to see if it comports with the flight book.