Extinct bees to be exported back to UK from NZ

The short-haired bumblebee, which is established in small areas of the South Island, is being reintroduced to its native country - England - where it is now extinct. Photo / Supplied

Alongside building canals and railways, navvies from the UK made a little-known contribution to biodiversity: collecting dozens of short-haired bumblebees for transportation to New Zealand.

More than a century later, scientists plan to bring Bombus subterraneus back to its native country - England - where it is now extinct.

The navvies were paid a bounty for each insect they collected, and the bees became established in small areas of the South Island.

The project to establish a new population in Kent will use a technique perfected by Czech scientists to breed the famously fussy insects.

Britain's bumblebees have lost 98 per cent of their preferred habitat in the past 70 years.

Of the 24 native breeds, just six remain in significant numbers, and two are extinct, including the short-haired, last seen in 2000.

The New Zealand bees became established in the late 19th century as part of efforts to rapidly increase the amount of pasture for the burgeoning sheep population.

The short-haired bumblebee is a particularly effective pollinator of red clover, a favourite foraging crop.

Ben Darvill, director of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, which is working on the project with Natural England, the RSPB and the bee charity Hymettus, said: "We are essentially using the same method as the navvies, only this time it is more complicated. We can't go around digging up the countryside like they did then."

The British team will use colonies of different bumblebees here to harvest pollen, which will then be taken off them by the scientists and fed to the short-haired bees.

Nikki Gammans, project officer, said: "The short-haired bumblebee is a very fussy eater. It needs high quality pollen that has been collected by other bumblebees."

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