Bees: Suborder Apocrita
There are over 1,500 species of native bees in Australia and around 200 live in the Sydney region.
Bee
© Australian Museum
Bees belong to the insect Order Hymenoptera, which includes wasps, ants and sawflies. In Australia there are four main bee families: Apidae, Colletidae, Halictidae and Megachilidae.
Many Australian these bees are solitary nesters, while others may share a nest. Others are fully social species.
Although some bees sting, they are not considered to be pests as they play an important role in the Australian environment as key pollinators of many native plant species. Indigenous people have long used both the honey and the nests of native bees as valuable sources of food and wax.
Commercially, the introduced Honey Bee is vital to the production of honey, but the cultivation of native bee species is also being investigated as a viable industry.
Features of bees:
- They are vegetarian throughout their life cycle, eating nectar and pollen.
- They are generally furrier than wasps and have feathery or branched hairs.
- Some native bees use a special pollination technique called 'buzz pollination', which certain native flowering plants require for pollination.
- Stingless bees (Trigona and Austroplebeia species) are the only native bees that do not possess a sting.
- The females of all the other native bees have a sting but many are too small to deliver an effective venom dose to humans.
- Although not aggressive, the largest native species can deliver a painful sting.
For enquiries relating to these insects in the Australian Museum collection please contact the Collection Manager
References
CSIRO Entomology. 1991. The Insects of Australia. Melbourne University Press.
Dollin, A., M. Batley, M. Robinson & B. Faulkner. 2000. Native Bees of the Sydney Region: A Field Guide. Australian Native Bee Research Centre.
Hadlington, P. & Johnston, J. 1998. An Introduction to Australian Insects. UNSW Press: Sydney
Zbrowski, P. & Storey, R. 1995. A Field Guide to Insects in Australia. Reed Books: Sydney
Dr
Dave Britton
, Collection Manager, Entomology
Last Updated:
Tags bees, hymenoptera, apidae, colletidae, halictidae, megachilidae, cuckoo bees, native bees, stingless bees, sugarbag, apis mellifera, honey bees, leaf-cutting, mortar bees, carpenter bees, social insects, colonial, colony, colonies, teddybear, teddy bear, blue-banded, bluebanded, pollination,
11 comments
Dear Kay,
I have not heard of any reports of bee mortality this summer, although there were several last summer. I am assuming these are honey bees you are talking about. I'll post back here if I hear of any other suspicous incidents.
Hi Philippa,
It is probably a teddybear bee in the genus Amegilla, subgenus Asarapoda. They usually nest in hard-packed earth or clay, sometimes in weak mortar between bricks. There are no native bumble bees (Bombus spp.) in Australia, although Bombus terrestris has become established as a feral pest in Tasmania.
Dear Joanne,
I assume you are talking about introduced European honey bees. I have had several reports of conspicuous deaths of honey bees from around suburban Sydney this summer and autumn, but am yet to hear about what might cause bees to die off in this manner. It does not seem to be related to insecticide usage in gardens, so I am at a loss as to why this might happen. There are several pests that infest honey bee hives causing the hives to die out, but whether they would cause adult bees to die outside of the hive in this manner I do not know.
Hi Daphne,
This is a hover fly in the genus Eristalis (Order Diptera, Family Syrphidae). Many species of hover fly are excellent wasp and bee mimics, but they can be identified as being in the Order Diptera by having only one pair of wings (two pairs for winged specimens in Order Hymenoptera, which contains the bees, ants and wasps).
Incidently, many native bee species have only a few sparse plumose (branched) hairs on their body, so hairiness or lack of hair is not necessarily a good indication of whether you are looking at a bee or wasp. Wasps are often very hairy, but the hairs on wasps are usually simple without any conspicuous branching. A good magnifying glass or microscope is required to see this difference.
Dear Helen,
Every summer we get reports on honey bee mortality (I assume you are talking about introduced honey bee and not native bees). The cause of this is not easily determined, but honey bees are susceptible to a number of diseases as well as being sensitive to commonly used garden insecticides. The Dept of Agriculture backyard beekeeping fact sheet details some of the more common bee diseases which might affect your bees.