Bees, butterflies, moths, flies, beetles, and wasps are all insect pollinators, and together they support roughly 35 percent of the world’s food crops. That translates to about one out of every three bites of food you eat. Three-fourths of all flowering plants depend on animal pollinators to reproduce, and insects do the bulk of that work.
Bees: The Most Effective Pollinators
Bees are the most important group of insect pollinators by a wide margin. Their bodies are uniquely built for the job. Honeybees, for example, have branching hairs across their entire body, with the longest and most heavily branched hairs concentrated on the thorax (the middle section between head and abdomen). These branching hairs trap pollen grains as bees move from flower to flower. Their hairy forelegs serve double duty, removing pollen from their eyes and grooming it into specialized structures on their hind legs for transport back to the hive.
Beyond honeybees, thousands of wild bee species pollinate crops and wildflowers. Bumblebees, mason bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees all contribute. Some are generalists that visit many flower types. Others specialize in specific plants, vibrating their flight muscles at a particular frequency to shake loose pollen that honeybees can’t access. This technique, called buzz pollination, is essential for crops like tomatoes and blueberries.
Globally, crop pollination from bees and other animals is valued at $215 billion, with $34 billion of that in the United States alone. Bees account for the largest share of that economic contribution.
Butterflies and Moths
Butterflies and moths belong to the same insect order, but they pollinate in different ways and at different times. Butterflies are active during the day and tend to visit brightly colored flowers in shades of pink, lavender, and red. These flowers often have deep tubes or hidden nectar reservoirs that match the butterfly’s long, straw-like tongue. Strong scent helps draw them in.
Moths take over the night shift. The flowers they pollinate are typically white or pale, making them easier to find in low light, and they produce strong fragrances that carry through the evening air. Some moth-pollinated flowers only open at dusk. The classic example is the relationship between hawk moths and certain orchids, where the moth’s tongue length matches the flower’s nectar tube almost exactly. This kind of tight pairing means some plants depend entirely on a single moth species to reproduce.
Flies as Overlooked Pollinators
Flies don’t get much credit, but they are significant pollinators of both crops and wild plants. Hoverflies (also called flower flies or syrphid flies) are the standout group. Adults feed on nectar and pollen, and their habit of hovering in place near flowers makes them frequent visitors. Research on hoverfly pollination in watermelon crops found that hoverflies spent an average of 45 seconds per flower, compared to just 6 to 12 seconds for honeybees. That longer visit time means more contact with the flower’s reproductive parts. Hoverflies also showed no preference between male and female watermelon flowers, while honeybees tended to favor the male ones, which is a meaningful advantage for fruit set.
Hoverflies deposit less pollen per day than honeybees or bumblebees, but they outperform many wild bee species. Researchers are actively studying whether hoverflies can be managed as crop pollinators in greenhouses, particularly for watermelon production, where early results are promising. Beyond hoverflies, other fly families pollinate cacao (the source of chocolate), carrion flowers, and many small wildflowers that bees tend to skip.
Beetles: The Original Pollinators
Beetles were pollinating plants long before bees existed. Fossil evidence shows beetles were the earliest known consumers of floral resources and the earliest known pollinators, likely playing a pivotal role in the evolution of nectar production across flowering plants. Today, beetle pollination remains especially important in tropical regions, where beetles visit a huge diversity of nectar-producing species.
Several beetle families have evolved elongated mouthparts lined with bristly hairs that sweep nectar droplets into their mouths. These include longhorn beetles, net-winged beetles, and flower chafers. Beetles tend to prefer flowers that present their nectar openly rather than hiding it in deep tubes. Some beetle-pollinated orchids, for instance, display nectar on exposed, lollipop-shaped hairs that beetles can easily access. Feeding experiments have shown that beetles spend significantly more time on flowers with higher nectar volumes, nearly three times as long on high-volume flowers (about 31 minutes) compared to low-volume ones (about 13 minutes). That extended contact increases the chance of successful pollination.
Beetle pollination is sometimes called “mess and soil” pollination because beetles tend to chew on petals and leave droppings as they feed. It’s not elegant, but it works.
Wasps and Ants
Wasps are less efficient than bees at moving pollen because their bodies are smoother and less hairy, so fewer grains stick. Still, they are important pollinators for certain plants. The most dramatic example is the fig wasp. Nearly 1,000 species of figs depend on fig wasps for pollination. Fig flowers are hidden inside the immature fruit, and tiny female wasps enter through a small pore to lay eggs and pollinate the internal flowers in the process. Without fig wasps, there would be no figs.
Other wasp species pollinate orchids, milkweed, and various wildflowers while foraging for nectar. Ants occasionally pollinate low-growing plants, though they are minor players compared to other insects. Their ground-level movement limits how far they can carry pollen, and some ant species produce chemicals that can damage pollen grains.
How Plants Attract Specific Pollinators
Flowers use a combination of color, shape, and scent to target particular insects. Research on three closely related plant species growing in the same area found that the species attracting the most bees had dramatically higher concentrations of certain scent compounds. Its floral scent contained over 52 percent of two specific volatile chemicals, compared to less than 2 percent in a related species that attracted far fewer bees. The more attractive species also had a different flower structure, with petal-like outer florets that provided a more visible landing platform.
These are not random features. Over millions of years, flowers have evolved color patterns, nectar guides (sometimes visible only in ultraviolet light), and specific fragrance blends that function like targeted advertising for the pollinators they depend on. Flowers that need beetle pollination tend to be open, bowl-shaped, and strongly scented. Flowers targeting butterflies are often tubular and brightly colored. Moth-pollinated flowers are pale and fragrant at night. Fly-pollinated flowers sometimes mimic the smell of rotting meat to attract species that normally feed on decaying material.
Threats to Insect Pollinators
A 2025 assessment of nearly 1,600 pollinator species in North America found that more than one in five is at risk of extinction. Bees are the most threatened insect group, with about 35 percent of the 472 bee species assessed facing elevated extinction risk. The primary drivers vary by region: climate change is the dominant threat in the West and North, agriculture and pesticide use dominate in the Great Plains and East, and urban development causes habitat loss across the continent.
Threats also differ by pollinator type. For bees, the top risks are agriculture, climate change, and development. For butterflies and moths, climate change, altered fire patterns, and invasive species pose the greatest danger. The loss of native habitat, whether converted to farmland, overtaken by invasive plants, or paved for housing, is a common thread across all groups. Pesticides applied to crops are increasingly recognized as a major threat in agricultural regions, affecting not just the target pests but the pollinators visiting treated fields.