A guide to native bees of Australia

281 Pages·2018·35.445 MB·English

by  Houston, Terry F

A G U I D E T O
NATIVE BEES

O F A U S T R A L I A
TERRY HOUSTON
© Terry Houston 2018
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Front cover: (main image) Blue-banded bee, Amegilla chlorocyanea, on Verticordia flowers, Jiri
Lochman; (top, left to right) female of Dawson’s Bee, Amegilla dawsoni, on flower of Rough Blue-bell,
Janine Guenther; males of Mellitidia tomentifera on their night-time roost, Alan Henderson; female of
Palaeorhiza disrupta, Andrew MacDougall.
Back cover: (left to right) Female of Hyleoides zonalis foraging on eucalypt flower, Kerry Stuart;
Amegilla sp. clearly grasping stem by mandibles alone, Jean and Fred Hort; Leioproctus conospermi with
proboscis inserted into smoke-bush flower, Kerry Stuart.
Title page: Two male carpenter bees at the entrance to their nest, Donna Sanders.
Photographs are by the author unless otherwise noted.
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Contents
Preface v
Acknowledgements vii
PART I OVERVIEW OF BEES AND THEIR BIOLOGY 1
What is a bee? 2
Form and function 3
Origin and evolution of bees 17
Australian bee fauna 19
Importance of native bees 21
Bee life-cycle 22
Sexing bees 26
About males and mating 27
Stings 35
Bees’ glandular products 36
Size range 39
Colour patterns, mimicry and crypsis 40
Sociality 46
Nests and nesting behaviour 47
Cuckoo bees 57
Flower visitation and feeding 59
Seasonality and flight times 69
Associated organisms 71
Conservation of bees 76
Historical account 79
Collecting and preserving bees 81
Encouraging native bees in the garden 84
iii
A GUIDE TO NATIVE BEES OF AUSTRALIA
PART II IDENTIFICATION OF BEES 87
Identifying bees 88
Is it a bee? 89
Native bee or honeybee? 91
Regarding names: scientific versus common 92
Identification of Australian bees to family 93
Family Colletidae 96
Family Stenotritidae 168
Family Halictidae 174
Family Megachilidae 197
Family Apidae 214
Bees introduced to Australia 246
Glossary 249
Further reading 252
Bibliography 253
Index 265
Photo: Kerry Stuart.
iv
Preface
The natural world in all its various facets bees. When, on close inspection, I saw that
can be a source of interest and wonder- these insects were packing loads of white
ment for many of us. Certainly that was pollen beneath their abdomens, it became
the case for me from my earliest years. I clear that they really were bees, just very
grew up in suburban Adelaide at a time tiny ones. I didn’t know it then but I had
when there were still paddocks, swamps, just met Homalictus urbanus.
coastal dunes and open drains and when Subsequently, I became aware of
children were allowed to roam and play another kind of native bee in our garden.
freely, as long as they turned up for the This bee was almost as large as the honey-
next meal-time. My father was a keen gar- bee but had a more rounded body and
dener who grew fruit trees, grape vines, strong black and white bands on its abdo-
vegetables and a variety of flowers. He men, and its flight was different. The
maintained a very neat garden with rock- females worked frenetically, dashing from
edged beds with gravel paths between and flower to flower and, intermittently, they
no weed ever lasted more than a day or two would stop to hover while they had a quick
before getting the flick from his pocket- clean up. In those brief moments, I noticed
knife. In this orderly environment there with amusement how their bodies waggled
was still some of ‘the wild’ – a variety of vigorously. This species, I learned much
native birds, reptiles, spiders and insects – later, was a blue-banded bee, Amegilla
and I spent hours watching them to see chlorocyanea. Where did they come from
what they were doing and, as I grew older, and where were they taking their loads of
seeking out their correct names. pollen, I wondered. The seeds of an abid-
Honeybees were ever present because of ing interest in native bees began to
the abundant flowers my father grew. The germinate.
hum of their wings among the poppy flow- As an undergraduate student at the
ers was one of the most delicious sounds of University of Adelaide, I began to consider
summer days. But it was probably my seriously what kind of career I wanted.
mother’s little herb garden that first Entomology, the study of insects, had a
opened my eyes to the existence of native strong appeal and seemed to offer good
bees. When some of her parsley plants pro- prospects for employment. By this time, I
duced heads of tiny white flowers, I hap- had learned that there were hundreds of
pened to notice one day how they were species of native bees in Australia and that
visited periodically by tiny black insects they were poorly studied. I was excited by
with an iridescent green sheen that rum- the thought that perhaps I could rectify
maged around in the manner of honey- this situation, at least to some extent. My
v
A GUIDE TO NATIVE BEES OF AUSTRALIA
desired course was set from that time on, and behaviours among our bees should
and my interest in native bees has persisted encourage further study of our bee fauna.
to this day, more than 50 years later. The The first part of this guide provides a
reader might think that I could have general introduction to the bees and should
learned all that there is to know about Aus- give the reader at least a basic grasp of their
tralia’s native bees in far fewer years and morphology, evolution, behaviour and
that I might have tired of them by now. Not ecology. The second part is intended to
so! The diversity of our bees (an estimated enable the reader to identify any Australian
2000 species with extremely varied form bee to at least genus. As well, it features
and behaviour) has yielded surprise after some of the most common species and
surprise. It is still the case that the life- some of the most unusual or remarkable
cycles and behaviour of the majority of species, which may be recognisable from
species have not been subject to any in- the illustrations. For those desiring to go
depth study, so more surprises may be in further with bee identification and study,
store for students of the bees. It is all too there will be found within the pages of this
easy to assume that because some mem- work references to sources of more detailed
bers of a group behave in a certain way, all information. Above all, I hope this work
members do likewise. Successive and com- will stimulate interest in and appreciation
paratively recent discoveries of novel forms of Australia’s wonderful native bee fauna.
vi
Acknowledgements
Photography of live bees in nature usually process, I have very much appreciated the
requires considerable time, patience and guidance, patience and encouragement
skill and, for the many fine bee portraits provided by CSIRO Publishing editors
that grace the pages of this book, I am Briana Melideo and Lauren Webb. They
deeply indebted to the following contribu- helped get me over the finish line. I could
tors: Mark Berkery, James Dorey, Bryony not have produced this book, either, with-
Fremlin, Janine Guenther, Alan Hender- out the support of the Western Australian
son, Jean and Fred Hort, Bernhard Jacobi, Museum, its staff and facilities.
Tony Kirkby, Remko Leijs, Andrea Lim, The system of classification of Aus-
Jiri and Marie Lochman, Andrew Mac- tralian native bees has been developed
Dougall, Marc Newman, David Pike, over centuries by various specialists and
David Rentz, Linda Rogan, Laurence and no one has done more to provide a stable
Donna Sanders, Tobias Smith, Kerry classification of Australia’s and the
Stuart, Malcolm Tattersall and Jenny world’s bees than the late Professor
Thynne. Michael Batley and Ken Walker Charles Michener of Kansas University.
kindly provided images of museum speci- The scheme used in this book is based
mens. For technical assistance with image largely on that outlined in his monumen-
handling and manipulation, I thank Evan tal work, The Bees of the World (Michener
Rogers and Robert Fleming. 2000, 2007). Furthermore, my identifica-
Preparation of this guide has been a tion keys are based on his with some
long and complex task and, throughout the modifications.
vii
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Part I
Overview of bees and their biology
1