There are over 20,700 species of bees that have been described and thousands more awaiting discovery and/or description. In this talk I will outline the evolutionary, phenotypic and natural history variation found among the bees.

Bio:

Laurence Packer has been studying bees since 1975 and has concentrated on them since starting a PhD at the University of Toronto in 1981. He completed his PhD in 1986 and following one year on the east coast and another in Calgary he became a Professor at York University in 1988 where he has remained until the present day. He has published over 160 research papers, 17 book chapters and three books, with a fourth coming out next February. All of his past PhD students are now university professors except for the two most recent ones who are currently postdoctoral fellows. The collection that he oversees at York University is the largest collection of bees in Canada and one of the most diverse in the world. He served on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada for seven years.