LAKEWOOD, WI– Scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service made a rare discovery in northern Wisconsin.

While conducting inventory on bees in the Lakewood-Laona Ranger District of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, they found one of the rarest bees in North America: the Epeoloides pilosulus.

Scientists were conducting the survey as part of a project funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).

Two male Epeoloides pilosulus were captured at Chickadee Barrens in mid-July, with a third one being captured the next day.

All three bees were netted off black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) plants blooming along roadsides within the forest.

These are the first confirmed records of the species in Wisconsin since 1910 when it was caught in Dane County.