Millions of Bees Have Thrived Under a New York Cemetery for More Than a Century

Simone Valesini Science May 30, 2026 5:00 AM Millions of Bees Have Thrived Under a New York Cemetery for More Than a Century A walk in the cemetery led to Cornell researchers discovering an underground colony of bees with an estimated population of 5.5 million—one of the largest ever recorded. Photograph: Bryan Danforth/Springer Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story A morning walk through East Lawn Cemetery in Ithaca, New York, uncovered an immense colony of some 5.5 million subterranean bees. The discovery, which a Cornell University research team published in April in the journal Apidologie , documents one of the largest aggregations of these insects ever recorded. The population, belonging to the species Andrena regularis , occupies an area of about 1.25 acres and is crucial for pollination of the region's orchards, demonstrating that historic cemeteries can prove unsuspected refuges for urban biodiversity. The Genesis of the Discovery In the spring of 2022, Rachel Fordyce, then a laboratory technician in Cornell University's entomology department, noticed an anomalous presence of insects during her usual walk to work. After collecting some specimens, she showed them to Bryan Danforth, an entomologist at the same university. Analysis revealed that they were Andrena regularis , commonly called the mining or miner bee. Unlike honey bees, this wild species has a solitary lifestyle and nests by digging tunnels in the ground. Historical records indicate that the insect has been present in the cemetery, established in 1878, since at least the early 1900s. The Census To calculate the size of the colony, scientists placed 10 traps in the cemetery between late March and mid-May 2023. These small net curtains cover less than one square meter of soil and channel insects coming out of the ground to a glass container. More than 3,000 insects belonging to 16 species were sampled, including bees, beetles, and flies, with a