New Species of “Sparkly Blue” Bee Discovered in Texas

Well, for the study, scientists sequenced the bee’s genome, comparing it to those of other Andrena bees. What they found was that “it does not fit into any of the existing 104 subgenera of Andrena. This means it is not closely related to any Andrena bees discovered thus far, making this a significant discovery.” What’s so different about it?

Well, it’s clearly a mining bee. But, unlike others, it loves plants in the tomato family (the nightshade kind) and forages nectar in a unique way, by “doing a handstand on the flower, sucking nectar with its tongue while scraping the flower with its hind legs and rubbing the flower with its hairy belly.”

There can be great variety within a kind, but mining bees remain, well, mining bees.

Now, in a biblical worldview we understand these mining bees all belong to the same kind (kinds usually fall at the family level, which is above genus and subgenus). There can be great variety within a kind, but mining bees remain, well, mining bees. And, of course, that’s what we observe.

AiG’s director of research, Dr. Georgia Purdom, said this about the find on social media:

Can bees be blue? Yes! But I don’t mean sad, just blue in color. A new subgenus of the Adrena genus was discovered in Texas and is a lover of tomato plants. A scientist, upon noticing its unusual behavior (compared to other mining bees), stated,

“[the bee behavior] really helps us showcase the unique evolutionary innovations of the new subgenus.”

The article also noted that this subgenus probably formed its own branch 12.6 million years ago.

How does mindless evolution “innovate”? It can’t! Rather, what we observe is a member of this bee genus that has some behaviors that are different from other members, yet [it is] still readily recognizable (and confirmed by DNA) to be in that genus.

What we observe is not evolution, but variation/speciation within this bee kind that God created with the other flying creatures on Day 5 of Creation Week just 6,000 years ago (not millions of years ago!)

Praise God for the beautiful diversity of his creation that we are still discovering today!

Blue bees are just a reminder of the creativity and genetic diversity God put into each kind he made.

Yes, this new species confirms what we know from God’s Word: Creatures reproduce according to their kind. Blue bees are just a reminder of the creativity and genetic diversity God put into each kind he made.

Get More Answers on Answers News

This item was discussed Monday on Answers News with cohosts Rob Webb, Avery Foley, and Bryan Osborne. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:

• Two countries make a move to protect kids.
• Do species control their own evolution?
• Is the universe growing?
• And more!

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Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.