Jane Grows Garden Rooms

The Green and Golden Amegilla aeruginosa

At first sight in my new Far North Queensland garden I was shocked by this bee. It had all the hallmarks of Amegilla but no bands like Blue-banded Bees and it wasn’t a Teddy Bear Bee. Kit Prendergast, an Australian scientist who researches bees, came to the rescue with an identification.

Despite being first described in 1854, these bees have not attained a common name. Perhaps this is because they are not as obviously spectacular as some other Amegilla species. A close look, however, reveals the same amazing eyes and furry body with turquoise hairs on the thoraz and a lusciously golden abdomen.

The species is only found in the North of Australia and is slightly smaller than other Amegilla species. I have seen it referred to as the “Green and Golden Bee” on a rare occasion, but this fails to grasp the splendour of this little character.

These bees appear to love Basil and I often see them foraging around the long flowering stalks. I even saw one being devoured by the Praying Mantis that uses the Perennial Basil patch as a hunting ground. (If you’re interested, you can see that video here.) It was easily recognisable from the showy golden abdomen grasped by the Mantid.

Want a Pocket-book Guide to help you identify Australian bees in your garden? This is my favourite:

Bees & other beneficial insects: a pocket-book guide by Megan Halcroft. Buy it here.

Other relevant resources:

Leafcutters and Resin Bees

Leafcutters and Resin Bees are both in the Megachile genus.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw precisely cut leaves poking out of a hole in my bee hotel. This was my first encounter with a Leafcutter Bee and I’ve not had many encounters since.

They are elusive and fast, both while cutting the soft leaves that they use to line their cigar shaped nests and flying back to a nest with them. I managed to capture it on video one day. You can watch it here. Note how even the slow motion looks fast!

Leafcutters favour soft thin leaves and have a preference for rose leaves. It’s easy to recognise the regular half moon shapes around the edge of the leaves – far too regular for a grasshopper, caterpillar or leaf beetle!

Here’s a link to a video on YouTube showing a Leafcutter cutting a Rose leaf.

Some companies even sell them for release! Check out this video showing a release.

Resin Bees use resin to seal their nests which are usually made in abandoned borer holes in wood or in bee hotels. The resin comes in many different colours. I’ve seen white cellophane like seals and bright green ones as well as the amber that we usually associate with tree resin.

All Megachile bees show a preference for pea flowers, perfectly shaped for them to harvest pollen and nectar, but they also like flowers with purple pollen and I often see them on my Perennial Basil.

Want a Pocket-book Guide to help you identify Australian bees in your garden? This is my favourite:

Bees & other beneficial insects: a pocket-book guide by Megan Halcroft. Buy it here.

Other relevant resources:

Tiny Buzz – Homalictus Bees

Most of the bees in this subgenus (of genus Lassioglossum) are less than 8mm long. The one in the feature photo (Homalictus urbanus) is between 4 and 5mm long! She is foraging from a tiny Commelina flower.

They have relatively short tongues so prefer open “flat” flowers where it’s easy to reach pollen and nectar.

Homalictus have been known to share their burrows, though each individual contributes eggs rather than having a queen like European Honey Bees and Stingless Bees. Scientists have even discovered a Homalictus urbanus burrow being shared by 160 bees!

Want a Pocket-book Guide to help you identify Australian bees in your garden? This is my favourite:

Bees & other beneficial insects: a pocket-book guide by Megan Halcroft. Buy it here.

Other relevant resources:

Australia’s Cuckoo Bees

These criminals of the bee world are deceptively beautiful. They buzz through the garden, bright colours or patterns grabbing the attention of the attentive gardener, but they work against other bee beauties.

They are also known as “Cloak and Dagger Bees”.

Coelioxys species use the newly built nests of Megachile species to lay their own eggs. The young hatchlings consume the nutrients left for the Megachile babies much like the cuckoos of the bee world.

Spectacular Thyreus species follow the Amegilla species and take over their burrows for their own young.

The Neon Cuckoo Bee (Thyreus nitidilus) is a delight of bright blue that tempts any nature photographer to stall and click away until the bee leaves. Click here for a slow motion video as one forages on Perennial Basil.

The paler blue of the Chequered Cuckoo Bee (Thyreus caeruleopunctatus) and the spots that give it its common name are likewise intriguing.

The Domino Cuckoo Bee (Thyreus lugubris) is similar to its chequered cousin but her patterns are black and white.

Regardless of their ominous intent, they are lovely to observe and any contribution to biodiversity is hopefully positive for all organisms.

Want a Pocket-book Guide to help you identify Australian bees in your garden? This is my favourite:

Bees & other beneficial insects: a pocket-book guide by Megan Halcroft. Buy it here.

Other relevant resources:

Australian Mellitidia

Who will solve the Mystery of the Australian Mellitidia?

Just look at that gorgeous bee! She’s small, gold and awfully busy. She doesn’t care that “busy” is a bee stereotype. She has more important things to worry about.

She’s probably nesting in ground burrows.

From my observations, she appears to be a buzz pollinator.

She is thought to be a solitary rather than social species.

She’s the only Mellitidia found in Australia, and even then, she’s only found in the Far North.

iNaturalist just says, “Mellitidia tomentifera is a species of insects with 67 observations”.

There are a few photos here and there on the internet. There are little snippets of observation and some complicated scientific papers, but little else.

Perhaps I can watch and photograph and record my observations and be the first to record some of her special features to share with the world!

This post was previously published in The Daily Cuppa on Medium by the same author.

Want a Pocket-book Guide to help you identify Australian bees in your garden? This is my favourite:

Bees & other beneficial insects: a pocket-book guide by Megan Halcroft. Buy it here.

Other relevant resources:

Great Carpenter Bee Buzz Pollinating Melastoma Video

Australia’s Largest Bee – The Great Carpenter

Scientific Name: Xylocopa (genus)

She sounds like a jet engine in comparison to other buzz pollinators. He probably does too, but I’m yet to find a male! At around one inch or two and a half centimetres long, the Great Carpenter Bee is Australia’s largest bee and yes, they are capable of stinging. They don’t usually sting though. Like most Australian native bees that have stings they are not aggressive and will only sting in defense.

The male is a glorious gold similar to a giant Teddy Bear Bee but he has green eyes rather than the amber typical of a Teddy Bear.

There is now evidence to suggest that Great Carpenter Bee daughters stay in nesting burrows and help their mother to provision and guard their siblings as they develop.

Want a Pocket-book Guide to help you identify Australian bees in your garden? This is my favourite:

Bees & other beneficial insects: a pocket-book guide by Megan Halcroft. Buy it here.

Other relevant resources:

Hylaeine Bee buzz pollinating Melastoma Video

Masked Bees – Hylaeus Bees

Hylaeine Bees are found on EVERY continent except Antarctica.

They have facial markings that resemble the emarginate eyes of wasps. More than 200 species are distributed throughout Australia.

The facial markers that earn them the “masked” label are usually more elaborate in males.

They usually nest in holes in wood, made and abandoned by borers. Some nest in crevices in rocks. They line the nest with cellophane-like fibres.

Want a Pocket-book Guide to help you identify Australian bees in your garden? This is my favourite:

Bees & other beneficial insects: a pocket-book guide by Megan Halcroft. Buy it here.

Other relevant resources:

Teddy Bear Bees

This shy species is very difficult to find in the garden. Like most Amegilla species, Teddy Bear Bees are quick and fly in erratic patterns, probably to elude predators. With their audible buzz and golden colouring they are sometimes mistaken for Bumblebees.

While each bee provisions a nest by herself, Teddy Bear Bees have been known to nest closely to other females. They are also known as Golden-haired Mortar Bees, giving a clue about their nesting behaviour. They tend to nest in hard soil, favouring locations like creek banks. They have also been known to nest in between bricks with soft mortar on occasion. Each nest contains small chambers which are carefully provisioned with food before an egg is laid.

Males roost on reeds or branches at night, sometimes with other males.

Also known as:

Amegilla bombiformis
Golden-haired Mortar Bee

They are very similar to Banded Bees but have strikingly different colouring. Like the Blue-banded Bees, their nests are sometimes invaded and taken over by Cuckoo Bees.

Other relevant resources:

Buzz Pollination Article