Hacker News Reader

Does North America have that many pollinator insects in terms of population? We have some butterflies and some solitary bees. We don't have the honey bee. What would normally be pollinating these plants, all I see is honey bees and some butterflies.

View on HN

I'm not sure about number of pollinator insects in terms of population, but in the southeast for example, the southeastern blueberry bee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habropoda_laboriosa) pollinates blueberries through buzz pollination. I believe even commercial blueberry operations rely on this pollinator, as blueberries are native to North America and those bees are its primary pollinators.

Wasps are pollinators, too. Many, especially among the prolific polistids, are obligate nectar feeders as adults, hunting only to feed or otherwise provision their larvae. Their typically scanty pubescence makes them less efficient pollinators than bees when taken one by each, but in the aggregate they're critical nonetheless.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com