Maritime Habitats (Goldstein & Ascher, 2016)

Zarrillo, Tracy A., Stoner, Kimberly A. & Ascher, John S., 2025, Biodiversity of Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) in Connecticut (USA), Zootaxa 5586 (1), pp. 1-138 : 41-42

Maritime Habitats

There are about 7,810 hectares of tidal wetland habitat in Connecticut, which include saltwater and brackish intertidal beaches, marshes, and rocky shores ( Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection 2018). Connecticut beaches, which occupy about 14% of Connecticut’s coastline, include barrier spits, pocket beaches, and beaches composed of gravel or cobblestone ( University of Connecticut undated). Most sandy beaches in Connecticut are privately owned, however the state of Connecticut owns and manages beaches at Hammonasset State Park Beach (Middlesex County), Silver Sands State Park Beach ( New Haven County ), Rocky Neck State Park Beach and Bluff Point State Park ( New London County ), and Sherwood Island State Park Beach ( Fairfield County ). The United States Fish and Wildlife Service manages the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, which consists of 10 units comprising 3.8 km 2 and scattered across 113 km of the Connecticut coastline. Conservation organizations such as the Connecticut Audubon Society manage a coastal center at Milford Point ( New Haven County ) and Stratford Point ( Fairfield County ), and Audubon Connecticut manages Greenwich Point Park (Fairfield County) .

Coastal bees have been best studied at Grass Island preserve in Guilford, New Haven County ( Zarrillo & Stoner 2019), although bee bowl surveys were also conducted concomitantly at six other coastal locations throughout Connecticut by Laura Saucier of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (unpublished). One notable bee species found at Grass Island and the Connecticut coastline is the Atlantic coastal sand dune specialist Lasioglossum marinum . This maritime bee is also found on Cape Cod and other coastal regions in Massachusetts ( Goldstein & Ascher 2016; Veit et al. 2022 [“2021”]), Gardiners Island, New York ( Ascher et al. 2014), along the Long Island Shore east to Breezy Point in Queens, New York City ( Ascher 2016) and at Napatree Point Conservation Area in Rhode Island ( Rothwell & Ginsberg 2019). Its range spans the eastern seaboard from New Hampshire to Florida. Hylaeu s s chwarzii is a coastal specialist that has been collected only at Grass Island in Connecticut, however it has been detected recently at a nearby barrier beach in western Rhode Island at the Napatree Point Conservation Area ( Rothwell & Ginsberg 2019) near the Connecticut border. Hylaeu s aff. nelumboni s was found at Grass Island in Connecticut ( Zarrillo & Stoner 2019) and on Gardiners Island in New York ( Ascher et al. 2014), but not yet in Rhode Island ( Rothwell & Ginsberg 2019). The recently described sand-specialist Lasioglossum georgeickworti has been detected at both Grass Island ( Zarrillo & Stoner 2019) and Napatree Point in Rhode Island ( Rothwell & Ginsberg 2019) but not on Gardiners Island ( Ascher et al. 2014). Although L. georgeckworti has been found in Connecticut and Rhode Island in maritime locations only, it is not limited to coastal beach dunes as the holotype for L. georgeckworti was collected in an inland xeric pitch-pine-scrub oak barren by J. Milam in Massachusetts at the Montague Plains Wildlife Management Area (Franklin County).

Native flora of beach communities in Connecticut that are important to bees include sea lavender ( Limonium carolinianum ), seaside goldenrod ( Solidago sempervirens ), American searocket ( Cakile edentula ), eastern baccharis ( Baccharis halimifolia ), beach pea ( Lathyrus japonicus ), and beach plum ( Prunus maritima ). Exotic beach rose ( Rosa rugosa ) has become naturalized along the Connecticut coast and is considered an invasive plant species in Connecticut ( Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group 2022). Rosa rugosa is a major pollen source for bees in shoreline communities in Connecticut, especially Bombus impatiens ( Zarrillo & Stoner 2019) . It is unclear if Rosa rugosa is outcompeting native plants ( Zarrillo & Stoner 2019).

Herbaceous inland wetland habitat