Bryan Danforth

Bryan Danforth studies the biology, evolution, natural history, and phylogeny of wild, mostly solitary bees. Dr. Danforth became interested in solitary bees as a graduate student at the University of Kansas studying under Charles D. Michener. Spending summers at the American Museum of Natural History’s Southwestern Research Station in Portal, Arizona, introduced him to the biology and life history of diverse solitary bee species. As a pre-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Danforth studied bee phylogeny, and as a professor at Cornell, he continues to study the intersection of bee biology and phylogenetics. His field work has taken him to some of the world’s bee biodiversity hotspots, including the American desert southwest, arid regions of Europe, southern Africa, Madagascar, and southern Australia. Dr. Danforth continues to be fascinated by the bizarre and interesting lives of solitary bees. He has authored two books on bees: “The Bee Genera of North and Central America” and “The Solitary Bees: Biology, Evolution, Conservation.”