Australian native bees

[happypalms]

I just love my native bees they are a wonderful little pet to have in the garden plus’s doing a wonderful job of pollinating which is a great thing for my garden such a great conversation starter definitely well worth having a hive in your garden 

[Silas_Sancona]

2 hours ago, happypalms said:

I just love my native bees they are a wonderful little pet to have in the garden plus’s doing a wonderful job of pollinating which is a great thing for my garden such a great conversation starter definitely well worth having a hive in your garden 

Tetragonula carbonaria?  

Agree,  No type of bee work harder / pollinate more stuff in the yard than all our native sps.. 

  Sting-less Meliponini -type bees aside ( no native " stingless "  sps documented here, but numerous sps just to our south in Mexico ),  interesting too how some bee Genus there co evolved to fill similar ecological niches..  IE:  N. American Digger Bees, Anthopora,  vs. Australian " Blue Banded " Bees, Genus Amegilla.

[happypalms]

13 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Tetragonula carbonaria?  

Agree,  No type of bee work harder / pollinate more stuff in the yard than all our native sps.. 

  Sting-less Meliponini -type bees aside ( no native " stingless "  sps documented here, but numerous sps just to our south in Mexico ),  interesting too how some bee Genus there co evolved to fill similar ecological niches..  IE:  N. American Digger Bees, Anthopora,  vs. Australian " Blue Banded " Bees, Genus Amegilla.

Yes a bit like the bats pollinating certain palms in South America different geological situations different animal species Mother Nature has it worked out better than all of us put together kinda makes us look a bit silly 

[Silas_Sancona]

3 minutes ago, happypalms said:

Yes a bit like the bats pollinating certain palms in South America different geological situations different animal species Mother Nature has it worked out better than all of us put together kinda makes us look a bit silly 

 Numerous other plants for sure, but Calyptrogyne gheisbreghtiana  appears to be the only documented  bat pollinated palm. https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2019/5/1/a-palm-with-a-unique-pollination-syndrome

Weevils, the bugs many hate, due to not understanding their role in the environment, are a big reason Oil Palm cultivation came about in the first place. ( Because they're the main pollinator of them )  Really good article on this interesting relationship: https://stri.si.edu/story/palm-pollinators


Nature definitely knows more than a fair number of humans for sure.. 

[johnnymak]

Fantastic little bees, I have two hives in my garden and get visits from blue banded, and carpenter bees as well.  Sadly I've also had to have two Asian hone bee hives removed in the last 12 months as well.

[happypalms]

11 hours ago, johnnymak said:

Fantastic little bees, I have two hives in my garden and get visits from blue banded, and carpenter bees as well.  Sadly I've also had to have two Asian hone bee hives removed in the last 12 months as well.

How nice I do believe you have a different species than the one I have one should never underestimate Australian bees truly amazing little creatures doing such a wonderful job with the mite that’s attacking the euro honey bee it will bee 🐝 interesting to see how Australia’s bee population will cope