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Just in time for the forecasts to hit triple digits and for us all to stock up on deodorant and tank tops, scientists say they’ve discovered and are now analyzing the Lasioglossum gotham, casually called the “sweat bee.”
Yes, instead of flowers or melty popsicles, the sweat bee is attracted to the salty beads on human skin, and, according to entomologist John Ascher, use humans as a “salt lick.”
The species was discovered by Ascher in Brooklyn, where thousands of species of bees coexist but are “overshadowed” by the ever-popular honeybees.
The bee is on the smaller side — at about the size of a sesame seed — and rarely uses its stinger, which registers a one on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index (a one-to-four scale). It relies on sweat to live, and prefers human sweat because of its high salt content.
Bon appetit.
