They pollinate plants, disperse seeds and consume insects – including disease-spreading vectors like mosquitoes.

I help to pollinate plants but have a painful sting.

Without them to pollinate plants, food production could collapse.

Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) also pollinate plants to various degrees.

Commercially bred bees are used in greenhouses to pollinate plants, for example tomatoes, and these bees typically harbor the parasite, while wild bees do not.