Rare bee discovered for first time in Syracuse area

A rare bee species native to New York state was discovered in the Syracuse area for the first time in July.

Molly Jacobson , a SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry pollinator ecologist, collected two specimens of Andrena rehni, also known as the chestnut mining bee, from American chestnut trees growing at the school’s experimental orchard on the city’s southern boundary.

The discovery not only marks the first confirmed sighting of the chestnut mining bee in CNY, but also the second known population in the state.

Andrena rehni was last recorded in southern New York in 1904, prompting the New York Natural Heritage Program to list the bee as ‘possibly extirpated’ in their 2022 Empire State Native Pollinator Survey assessment.

But in 2023, Jacobson rediscovered the b