This little native bee species, Lipotriches excellens, turns up somewhere in my garden in the warm months of every year. Like many solitary bee species, the females have burrows in the ground somewhere, while the males live out in the wilds seemingly spending most of their time doing nothing, just hanging around in a big cluster on a dead twig somewhere. Sometimes there's the odd female in amongst the cluster with them; she's slightly larger and has more more gold colouration in the bands on the abdomen (Closely related species in the group are called "Green and Gold bees" for their colours)Come spring, I'll be on the lookout for the new generation of males, they tend to use the one spot for the whole season.
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3 comments:
David, you have an eye for fabulous composition. And the shallow depth of field works a treat here.
It's interesting that our native bees lead such different lives to that of the ferals.
hv
Yep, it's amazing to think that of the 2000 or so species of native bee in Australia, all but a handful (the stingless social bees) lead lives similar to these guys in the photo. Actually, one of the other life strategies employed by a group of native bees gives me a good idea for a post in the future...
David, you're a natural photographer and a natural teacher. :)
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