DAILY OBSCURE POLLINATOR - Pollinator Party Calendar 2022

If the honey bee is the first pollinator that comes to mind, you are not alone. In fact, many people believe that the honey bee (Apis mellifera) is one of only a handful of bees. The honey bee is indeed important for food production in the United States and is considered a “managed bee” because it is heavily managed by humans. 80% of all almonds are pollinated by managed bees, including the honey bee, which are trucked across the country every spring to California during almond bloom.

However, there are many other pollinator species. It’s estimated that there are more than 4,000 species of wild bees in North America alone!

Let’s meet some of these Obscure Pollinators . . . hold onto your seats, some of these may startle you!

Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur

Lemurs...as pollinators?! The red-bellied lemur (top) and the black-and-white ruffed lemur (bottom) are both found in the rainforests of Madagascar where they eat fruits, seeds, leaves, and nectar. When visiting flowers for nectar, pollen often gets stuck on the fur of their snout and face which results in the pollination of some plant species. They also play an important role in distributing the seeds of many rainforest plants! Black-and-white ruffed lemurs in particular have a close relationship with the traveler's tree, and are able to open the tree's flowers with their crafty hands in order to reach the nutritious nectar inside. This makes the black-and-white ruffed lemur the largest pollinator in the world!

Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur, Thierry Cordenos, courtesy of iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Lizards...as pollinators?! Blue-tailed day geckos (Phelsuma cepediana) are brightly colored lizards that grow to around 6 inches in length and are native to Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean. As their name suggests, blue-tailed day geckos are active during the day and can be found eating insects, fruits, and visiting flowers for pollen and nectar. Blue-tailed day geckos use their tongue to lick the nectar found inside flowers, and in doing so get pollen stuck on the scales of their mouth, head, and body. This results in the pollination of rare island plant species such as the Trochetia tree and Roussea simplex, both of which rely on gecko pollination for reproduction and survival.

Photo: Blue-Tailed Day Gecko, by Klaus Bohn courtesy of iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Sword-billed hummingbirds (Ensifera ensifera) are native to South America and have extraordinarily long bills that are 4 inches in length. As their name suggests, their bills resemble swords and are longer than their body! Sword-billed hummingbirds have strong wings that allow them to hover in the air while visiting flowers, and are able to extend their tongue even further past their bill allowing them to reach the sugary nectar within long and tubular flowers. This makes them key pollinators of flower species such as Passiflora mixta that have long corollas and depend on sword-billed hummingbird pollination in order to survive and reproduce. Photo: Sword-Billed Hummingbird © Morten Ross, courtesy of iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Honey possums (Tarsipes rostratus) are tiny nectivorous mammals that are native to Australia and weigh only 7 to 10 grams! Honey possums are fantastic nocturnal pollinators and use their crafty feet and tail to hang from branches in search of sweet nectar from Banksia, Eucalyptus, and other native flowers. They have long furry snouts that get covered in pollen when feeding, and have long tongues with bristles perfect for lathering nectar from the flowers they are visiting.

Photo: Honey Possum by Bo Janmaat, courtesy of iNaturalist Australia (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Perdita minima, also known as the fairy bee, is the smallest bee species in North America and is less than 2 millimeters in size! Perdita minima are solitary bees found mostly in the desert southwest, where they build ground nests in sandy soils. Although they are tiny, these small bees are excellent pollinators! They have specialized pollen collecting hairs on their legs, as seen in the picture below, that make them fantastic pollinators of specific native plants such as whitemargin sandmat.