NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) - A new species of bee has been discovered in Oklahoma and Texas, according to the University of Oklahoma. New species of bee in Oklahoma. Image courtesy University of Oklahoma. OU says a recent study published in the journal "Ecology and Evolution" features the blue-colored mining bee and how it interacts with plants in the wild. “The process of documenting bee biodiversity started centuries ago, but scientists are still discovering new species all the time” said James Hung, OU assistant professor of biology and co-author of the paper. LOCAL NEWS: ‘It’s weird’: OKC Zoo scientist studies ‘zombie butterflies’ The United States Department of Agriculture says 75 to 85 percent of all flowering plants on Earth need animal pollinators to live and reproduce. Bees are a very important part of the process, as there are more than 1,500 species of Andrena bees on earth, making it one of the biggest genera of animals in the world. “Subgenera are groups of species that are structurally similar and closely related. This new species, however, is so distantly related to any other Andrena that we think it has formed its own branch on the Andrena family tree about 12.6 million years ago,” said Silas Bossert, assistant professor at Washington State University and lead author of the study. “We know this because we sequenced and compared its genome to those of other bees. Using a technique called ‘molecular clock’, we can approximate how much time has passed since this lineage has separated from the other bees based on differences in its genome.” According to the study, this new species of bee does not quite fit in. It is not closely related to any subgenera of Andrena that have been discovered. Hung added that developing a new bee subgenus is rare. Usually, new subgenera are made by rearranging what is already known. Officials say co-author of the journal John Neff collected the bee in Texas years before confirming its uniqueness. Both Hung and Neff discussed the deep branches of the evolutionary history of bees with Bossert and realized they had found something special. “New species are often discovered and described based on museum specimens and are often discovered by researchers who didn’t collect the specimens themselves because the original collectors are often field biologists who don’t do deep DNA work,” Hung noted. “But I was able to document the way this bee was foraging and interacting with pollinating plants on video and in still images. By combining the molecular data from Neff and Bossert with the video footage I collected, we were able to construct an unusually detailed profile for this species.” LOCAL NEWS: Oklahoma City Zoo caring for two rare species of fish New species of bee in Oklahoma. Image courtesy University of Oklahoma. The study says the new bee is the only species in the genus Andrena that has taken a liking to Solanaceae plants, or plants in the tomato family. Hung was able to catch the bee on video collecting pollen from these plants using its furry body. “I observed this matte-blue-colored bee doing a handstand on the flower, sucking nectar with its tongue while scraping the flower with its hind legs and rubbing the flower with its hairy belly,” he said. “This is pretty unusual behavior for a member of the mining bee genus and really helps us showcase the unique evolutionary innovations of this new subgenus.” To learn more, visit OU.edu.