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Colletes bhutanicus, a rare solitary Himalayan bee, was recorded in India for the first time in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
The species was documented by scientists of the Zoological Survey of India during surveys in the Eastern Himalayas.
It was first described from Bhutan in 2003 and later recorded from high-altitude areas of China.
In Tawang it was found between 1,500 and 3,800 metres, visiting 25 flowering plant species across 10 botanical families.
The finding was published in the International Journal of Tropical Insect Science on August 5, 2026.
Most people picture bees as honeybees — thousands of individuals in a hive with a queen, workers and a rigid division of labour. That is the exception, not the rule. Solitary bees such as Colletes bhutanicus do not form eusocial colonies; each female builds and provisions her own nest and raises her own young without a worker caste. Colletes are called plasterer bees because the female lines her nest burrow with a secreted cellophane-like material. Solitary species matter disproportionately for pollination because they forage individually across a wide range of plants rather than concentrating on whatever the colony has targeted.
Simple Analogy: Honeybees are a factory workforce; solitary bees are self-employed, each running a one-person operation.
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GS Paper III > Environment and Biodiversity
General Awareness > Environment and Science
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Answer: 1, 2 and 3
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Answer: 1, 2 and 3
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A bee species in which each female nests and provisions independently, without a colony or worker caste.
The common name for Colletes bees, from the cellophane-like lining the female applies to her nest burrow.
A pollinator that visits a wide range of plant species rather than specialising in one.
A biodiversity-rich stretch of the Himalayas covering north-east India, Bhutan and adjoining areas, recognised as a global biodiversity hotspot.