Efforts to document current wild bee faunas are imperative as evidence of changes in local abundance, geographical range, and species diversity among many taxa accumulates. These changes and declines have led to an intensified effort to survey wild bees in representative habitats throughout North America. The objective of this study was to characterize the wild bee fauna of one such coastal habitat in Connecticut, USA, specifically to examine marsh, dune, and coastal scrub bee communities.

Biweekly surveys were conducted at Grass Island Preserve (Guilford, CT) over a two-year period (2011-2012) using pan traps and effort-based (timed) net collecting. A total of 3929 individual bees were collected, representing five families, 18 genera and 80 species. The total number of species collected represents approximately 23% of the known Connecticut bee fauna. Three species -Hylaeus illinoisensis (Robertson); Hylaeus aff. nelumbonis (undescribed); Lasioglossum michiganense (Mitchell) - are newly recorded for Connecticut. Species accumulation curves constructed for all sub-habitats indicated that bee diversity was steadily increasing over the sample period. No asymptote in accumulation curves were observed at any site.