| Description |
Biting into a stick for a night's rest
Family Anthophoridae
Blue-banded Bee - Amegilla cingulata
Blue-banded Bees are known as buzz pollinators. They use a special technique to get the pollen from flowers known as buzz pollination. They hold the flowers and vibrate with a loud buzzing sound. The vibration excites the flower which drops the pollen onto the bees body. Other insects do not know this technique and cannot get the pollen. Every time the bee rests on a flower, you can hear a short loud buzzing sound.
Blue-banded Bees are native to Australia, although they or their close relatives can be found in other continents. They do sting but they are not aggressive, i.e., they will not attack unless disturbed.
They love blue flowers. To encourage their visit, you may grow more blue flowers in your garden.
These bees like to look for some stick of the right size to bite into and then rest for the night. During the day these bees are tricky to shoot, so a good time to take a photo is during dusk when there is still some light and they're starting to settle for the night. Females like this one will usually be alone but males might be in a group on the same stick.
Info from one of my favorite insect sites
www.brisbaneinsects.com/
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