A Conservation Spotlight: The Rusty Patched Bumble Bee

The rusty patched bumble bee is a gorgeous bee, richly colored in yellow and black with a distinctive rusty brown marking on its back. It holds a special place in history: In January 2017, it became the first bee in the continental U.S. to be listed under the Endangered Species Act, and in May of this year, 1.5 million acres of land were designated as critical habitat, the largest area of critical habitat ever declared for an insect. 

To tell us the story of how this bumble bee went from unknown to icon are two people who played a central role in the years-long effort, Sarina Jepsen and Rich Hatfield. 

Sarina is the Endangered Species Program Director here at Xerces, and has worked on the protection of many different invertebrate species, including bees, butterflies, tiger beetles, fireflies, and freshwater mussels. Sarina co-founded the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission’s Bumblebee Specialist Group, an international network of scientists who aim to evaluate the extinction risk of bumble bees worldwide.

Rich also works at Xerces, where he is a Senior Conservation Biologist on our Endangered Species team and Bumble Bee Conservation Lead, which means he manages all aspects of the Xerces Society’s work on bumble bees. This includes coordinating the Bumble Bee community science projects, including the Bumble Bee Atlas. Rich is also working to understand the threats to bumble bees and actions we can take to protect them, and advocating for their protection. 

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Photo: Rich Hatfield / Xerces Society

Thank you for listening! For more information go to xerces.org/bugbanter.