Pollinator Profiles

IDENTIFYING POLLINATORS

When thinking about pollinators, most people think of bees. Although bees are common pollinators, many other groups of insects, as well as birds and small mammals are also important pollinators. Within our Pollinator Profiles page, we have included many insect Families, such as bees & wasps (Hymenoptera), flies (Diptera), beetles (Coleoptera), and butterflies & moths (Lepidoptera). Hummingbirds are also considered as pollinators since they transfer pollen as they fly from flower to flower.

HELP US TRACK LOCAL POLLINATORS

Identifying pollinators can be challenging – to ID many pollinators down to the species level often requires seeing tiny details like wing venation, or the number of bands on the abdomen, and sometimes even genetic samples are required to positively identify what species the insect belongs to! But there are still ways that you can help to track pollinator diversity in your garden:

• iNaturalist. If you are handy with a camera, or just lucky to get a good shot of your pollinator with your phone, adding it as an observation on iNaturalist can help you get down to the genus level, and sometimes even to species level. Add your observations to our project page: the Mid-Vancouver Island Pollinator Project!
• Field Guides. There are a number of field guides available for purchase. If you are looking for an introduction specifically about pollinators in our region, Common Insect Pollinators: a Photographic Field Guide to Bees, Beetles, Buterflies, Flies, Moths and Wasps of Nanaimo and Area, by local pollinator enthusiast Lynda Stevens. We recommend this field guide because you don’t have to wade copious photos of insects that aren’t even found in our region as you try to ID the one you just saw visiting your garden! Also, we are proud to have supported Lynda in her effort to document the diversity of pollinating insects she has seen in her garden and the Nanaimo region.

Below is a list of pollinators that might be seen in your garden. We have provided a simple description of them that should help you note the distinguishing features such as body shape and colour, as well as interesting facts about their foraging practices and nesting needs.

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INSECTS

Bees are considered the most effective pollinator because they spend a lot of their time visiting flowers for pollen, since pollen is what they feed their young on. Bees come in a variety of sizes and colours but they share very similar shapes and features. All bees have two pairs of wings (4 wings), oblong eyes at the sides of their heads, and long jointed antennae.

Bumblebees (Family Apidae) are easily recognizable for their very fuzzy bodies, loud buzzing sound, and combination of white, yellow, orange and black colouration. Female bumblebees carry pollen on specials hairs of their back legs, sometimes called a pollen basket. Bumblebees are the only type of social bee besides the honey bee. This means that bumblebees nest in a colony, with a queen, drone and worker bees. All of our other native bee species are solitary nesters, with each female provisioning her brood of eggs completely on her own.

Long-horned bees are also in the Apidae family. They are smaller than bumblebees, and the females carry so much pollen on their back legs that it looks like they are wearing pollen pants!

Other types of bees can be harder to recognize. Mason and Leafcutter bees (Family Megachilidae) carry pollen on special hairs under their abdomens. They can vary in colour from blue to black, but share a common way of collecting pollen and are often called “hairy-belly bees”.

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Other groups of bees commonly found in gardens are the sweat and furrow bees (Family Halictidae), plasterer bees (Family Colletidae) and mining bees (Family Andrenidae). Most of these bees nest in the ground and they may be seen emerging from their nests. Most of these bees are black or brown, many can be shiny and metallic, and one common species is iridescent green.

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Wasps are far more diverse than the commonly seen Yellowjackets and Hornets that buzz around your barbeque in the summer. Compared to bees, all wasps have a smoother body and narrow waist.

While bees rear their young with pollen balls sometimes mixed with sap or nectar, wasps feed their young in one of two ways:

• Some prey on insects and spiders as food for their own larvae.
• Others lays their eggs in or on the larvae or adult of other insects. The young then feed on these as they develop.

For the most part, adult wasps themselves feed on nectar from flowers.

Wasps in the family Ichneumonidae are all parasitic, and thus lay their eggs on host insect eggs and larvae. They are considered beneficial insects because they control the populations of other insects that are detrimental to agriculture or to ecosystems when they are abundantly present. Females of some species have extremely large ovipositors, as they lay their eggs on species that are under the bark of some of our native tree species.

Just like bees, there are a few wasps that are social and nest in a colony, though the majority are solitary nesters. The social nesters are the ones we think of as the aggressive wasps such as the Yellowjackets and Hornets, and the more gentle Paper wasps (all Family Vespidae).

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Beetles are more easily distinguishable from other insects because of their often round or oval body shape and their hard outer wings called elytra. Beetles are highly diverse and come in many shapes, sizes, and colours. We don’t often think of beetles as pollinators because of their tendency to crawl rather than fly, but the most commonly spotted beetles on flowers in our region are:

• Lady Beetles, or ladybugs as they are called by most (Family Coccinellidae)
• Flower Longhorn Beetles (Family Cerambycidae)
• Flower Beetles (Family Scarabaeidae)
• Tumbling Flower Beetles (Family Mordellidae)
• Shining Flower Beetles (Family Phalacridae)
• Soft-wing Flower Beetle (Family Melyridae)
• Soldier Beetles (Family Cantharidae)
• Click beetles (Family Elateridae)

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Flies can easily be confused with wasps and bees but are distinguishable because of the number of wings they have. Unlike bees and wasps, which have two pairs of wings (4 wings), flies have only one pair of wings (2 wings). Other features that may help in identification are their often large bulging or rounded eyes and short antennae.

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Butterflies and moths may be the most recognizable pollinator group because of their (often) vibrant and colourful scales and larger size. In general, butterflies pollinate during the day and most moths pollinate during the night, although there are some day flying moths.

An easy way to distinguish moths and butterflies is the antennae: butterflies have clubbed antennae, while moths have feathery antennae. Also butterflies rest with their wings folded together upright, while moths rest with their wings spread out to the side or folded over their back. There are several species of butterfly that like to bask in the sun and spread out their wings to do so, like our Swallowtail butterflies, which makes the wing rest position tricky on sunny days.

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Confusing Pollinators – the Mimics

Within the insect world some species have evolved a defense mechanism of looking like another species that is totally unrelated. This a way of protecting them from predators. There are flies that look like bumblebees and others that looks like yellowjacket wasps. These mimics can often cause confusion with identification but it is always fascinating when one is discovered in your garden.

And then there is this beauty – the Rocky Mountain Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thetis)! Large enough to make you think a hummingbird just buzzed past you, and striped to look like a bee! This one was spotted at Harewood Plains in 2023.

Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are also important pollinators. In British Columbia, both the Anna’s Hummingbird and the Rufous Hummingbird are effective pollinators.