Masked Bee, Black Hairless Bee - Palaerhiza parallela

Family Colletidae, Hylaeine

This page contains pictures and information about Masked Bees that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia. They are also known as Leaf-faced Bees and Black Hairless Bees.


Body length 15mm

The bee is black in colour, with yellow pattern on its thorax which is a common pattern on bees in Subfamily Hylaeine. This bee nests in stem, includes the flower stalks of the grass tree (Xanthorrhoea).



The bees are hairless. They carry pollen in their stomachs.



We saw this bee once in Yimbun Park Brisbane on OCT 2007. It seems was sucking some kind of honey dew on a leaf.

Reference:
1. Colletidae - Insects of Townsville, by Graeme Cocks, 2004.
2. Native Bees of the Sydney region, a field guide - Anne Dollin, Michael Batley, Martyn Robinson & Brian Faulkner, Australian Native Bee Research Centre. P33.
3. Masked Bee Specimen - Australian Museum, 2009.
4. Northern Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
5. Palaeorhiza (Cnemidorhiza) parallela (Cockerell, 1905) - PaDIL, 2011.