|
|
Family APIDAE - Bees
The Apidae family includes the famous Honey Bees and the Australian Native Stingless Bees, they are the highly social bees. There are also the solitary and communal species in this family. Their nest sites include ground and tree holes
-
- The introduced Honey Bees always compete with native bees in Brisbane.
- They also have long tongues which allow them to reach the nectar in tubular flowers. Of course they feed on shallow flowers as well. The bees in this family carry the pollen in corbiculae (the smooth and enlarge region on the hind leg, with a fringe of hairs they form a pollen basket).
- The Apidae and Anthophoridae are close relatives and sometimes they are put in one family under Apidae.
- Honey Bee
- Apis mellifera Body length 15mm
- We had mis-identified this insect as a Blue-Banded Bee Amegilla sp. in this web page. Our visitor Martyn Robinson of Australian Museum kindly sent us the email and advised us this should be a honey bee Apis mellifera. Here we would like to thank you Martyn again. For information about Honey Bees, please click here.
- Stingless Bee 1
- Trigona carbonaria, body length 4mm
- Stingless Bees are Australia Native Honey Bees. They also known as Sugar-bag Bees and Sweat Bees. They are common in Brisbane. They are small in size and do not string. They are black in colour with hairy extended hind legs for carrying nectar and pollens. They are social bees with very large colony. Their nest usually built inside living or dead tree trunk. More information in the Stingless Bees page.
- Stingless Bee 2
- ? Trigona sp, body length 4mm
- Pictures taken on Dec 2009 in Anstead Forest. There was a small group of them resting in glass stem.
- Reference:
- 1. Native Bees of the Sydney region, a field guide - Anne Dollin, Michael Batley, Martyn Robinson & Brian Faulkner, Australian Native Bee Research Centre.
