Bees: Suborder Apocrita

There are over 1,500 species of native bees in Australia and around 200 live in the Sydney region.

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: 16 January 2012

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9 comments

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Dave Britton
10.01 AM, 16 January 2012

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.

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2020kay
10.01 PM, 15 January 2012

Hi I live in Surry Hills Sydney and have a large gum over my property I too am experiencing more than 10 bees a day crawling around on their last legs on the ground in my courtyard ? !!!! Is this just typical bee mortality or something else ? ? ?

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STAFF

Dave Britton
11.03 AM, 30 March 2011

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.

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pippaT
2.03 PM, 29 March 2011

Dear knowledgeable readers, I have a visiting, bumblebee-like orange bee - hairy, rounded, largish and buzzing, which I have not seen before. What is it please?

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ckeogh
12.10 PM, 02 October 2010

I observed a similar event last year under my 20 year old Callistemon ‘Hannah Ray’ here in Canberra, and would be interested in an explanation if/when one is available.

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STAFF

Dave Britton
11.05 AM, 20 May 2010

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.

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joannedv
2.05 PM, 06 May 2010

Hi,I have a large gum tree in my backyard of unknown type. At the moment it is blossoming. We have lots of bees lying around in the backyard that are either dead or dying. Do you know what causes this? It happend last August when the tree was flowering also. It concerns me as i have 2 small children and we can't play in the backyard as there are so many bees on the ground. We have already had 2 bee stings. I would be appreciate it if you can help me out.

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STAFF

Dave Britton
1.04 PM, 19 April 2010

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.

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daphne
8.04 PM, 17 April 2010

Your description states that bees are furry. But take a look at a photo I took. I thought it was a European bee sitting on a sort of cactus. When I checked it out on my computer, I was a little surprised. This bee has no fur and its head is very dfferent from any bee I have seen. I have been hoping to get a better photo, but I haven't seen it again. Would love to know which bee it is and why it isn't furry.

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