As you may have heard, for the 2015 spotting season, we've begun accepting spottings from a new state, bringing us to a total of 3 states for which we have the expertise to identify bumble bees and honey bees: Illinois, Missouri, and now Ohio.

While most of the bee species found in Ohio overlap well with species we are already able to identify, it was necessary to add a new species of bumble bee to our list: Bombus perplexus. In order to accurately identify bees from Ohio, we needed to expand our identification capabilities, so we are happy to welcome a new expert identifier to our ranks. Entomology graduate student Michelle Duennes will join Postdoctoral Research Associate Terry Harrison on our expert identifier team.

Michelle grew up in the Cincinnati area and is familiar with Ohio bees, including B. perplexus. Michelle will be handling our Ohio bee spottings, so our new Ohio spotters can look forward to hearing from her when she identifies their spottings.

Welcome to the team, Michelle, we're glad to have you on board!