"Spring has finally arrived in the U.S., bringing its bright spectacle of budding trees and migrating birds, along with more subtle but equally important changes -- among them, the first emergence of native bees.

But "native bees" doesn't actually include the insect most of us picture upon hearing the word "bee." That yellow-and-black-striped, hive-living, honey-making critter -- formally Apis mellifera -- hails from Europe. Farmers rely on these tiny imports as, essentially, livestock animals that pollinate food crops and produce honey. But their wild, native counterparts are something completely different.

"Take the majority of what you know about honeybees and throw it away," says Sydney Shumar, a biologist and manager of the U.S. Geological Survey's Bee Lab. "It does not apply to our native bee friends." To celebrate spring, Scientific American spoke with Shumar about North American native bee species' variety, differences from honeybees and importance in their ecosystem...."