On March 9, a researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural History named Chase 

Kimmel found a rare type of bee that had not been seen in 4 years. The insect, called the “blue 

Calamintha bee,” has a blue body with unusual facial hairs that collect pollen, and the body is a 

bit smaller than that of a honey bee. 

This bee was last seen in 2016, and so many researchers had thought it had gone extinct. 

Since March 9, more and more blue Calamintha bees have been showing up but are not able to \

be researched much due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Kimmel is working his best to 

research as much as he can to find reasons why this bee hadn’t been seen for 4 years.

From Kimmel's research, the bees have been found in four locations: 10 different 

properties which keep expanding on the bee population. Could it be that the blue Calamintha 

bees have come out from hiding after those years because people started to disappear, or was it 

just that they randomly returned?

by Pauline Lee