“Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it.”

Lyricist Cole Porter may have rendered it with a characteristic wit and concision. But it wasn't a new idea. Poets have long seen in the bee's regard for the flower an image of attraction, of the energies of spring and the sweet forces of allure in nature.

The desert isn't usually part of the poetic picture. But, scientifically, arid areas are bee havens. And the Chihuahuan Desert has among the greatest diversity of bees of any region on earth.

Honey bees are the most recognizable members of the bee lineage. But they're imports, introduced by European settlers in the 17th century. Massing in colonies 60,000 strong, European h...