Family Colletidae - Colletid Bees, Short-tongued Bees
Order Hymenoptera
- Colletid Bees are short blunt tongue bees. They are from small to medium in size. They feed on shallow flowers, particularly eucalypts and their relatives. Some of them are hairy and some other are hairless. They are solitary, i.e., each female build nest by herself and not share with others. They build nests in ground, wood or stems. Those burrow in ground mostly in clayey soil. Larvae feed on pollen and honey.
- Family Colletidae is the largest Australian bee family. The females of this family line their brood cells with a transparent material, which is unique amongst bees.
This page contains pictures and information about Colletid Bees in Family Colletidae that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
Subfamily Colletine - Hairy Colletid Bees
- Bees in this subfamily are relatively hairy. Forewings with cell r, 1m and 2m closed. They have hairy hind legs for pollen transportation. Most of them nest in ground and some are in rotting wood.
- Green Leioproctus Bee
- Leioproctus sp., body length 15mm
- Leioproctus Bees is native bees in Australia. They are short tongue bees feed on shallow flowers, particularly eucalypts and their relatives. They are solitary bees. Please check this page for more information.
- Black Leioproctus Bee
- Leioproctus sp., body length 15mm
- We found this black hairy bee searching amount a bunch of dry leaves. The bee is metallic black in colour with white hairs around the body. Please check this page for more information.
Subfamily Hylaeine - Hairless Bees
- The Hylaeid bees are hairless and usually with yellow or white markings on thorax. They may misrecognised as wasps. They carry pollen in their stomachs rather than externally. On forewings there are only r and 1m closed, 2m combined with 3m. Nest usually are constructed in burrows in stem or in logs with borer-beetle holes. Some species nest in ground.
- Masked Bee, Black Hairless Bee
- Palaerhiza parallela, 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). For more information please check this page.
- Hylaeus Bee
- Hylaens sp., body length 15mm
- Hylaeus is a large genus, consisting of most bees in Subfamily Hylaeine. They are usually black in colour with yellow markings on thorax. Please check this page for more infromation.
- Golden Tail Hairless Bee
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- ? Hyleoides sp., body length 10mm
- There is the bright orange spot on the tip of abdomen. Please visit this page for more pictures and information.
- Banded Hairless Bee
- ? Meroglossa sp., body length 10mm
- This banded bee is hairless and we believed it is the Meroglossa species. Please visit this page for more pictures and information.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 995.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus & Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p302.
- 3. Colletidae - Insects of Townsville, by Graeme Cocks, 2004.
- 4. Native Bees of the Sydney region, a field guide - Anne Dollin, Michael Batley, Martyn Robinson & Brian Faulkner, Australian Native Bee Research Centre. P33.
- 5. Masked Bee Specimen - Australian Museum, 2009.
- 6. Northern Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
- 7. Family COLLETIDAE - Australian Faunal Directory, Australian Biological Resources Study.
