FAMILY MEGACHILIDAE - Leafcutter Bees and Resin Bees
Leafcutter bees are common in Brisbane gardens. They are solitary bees. They are visitors of different flowering plants. They have long tongues which allow them to reach the nectar in tubular flowers. Of course they feed on shallow flowers as well.
Sometimes we find circular holes in soft-leaved plants, these are made by the female Leafcutter Bee which uses the leaf to build her nest. Resin Bee female usually builds nest in existing cavity. She builds nest by resin, gum or mud.
Leafcutter Bee usually has relatively flat abdomen while Resin Bee has long cylindrical abdomen.
Both Leafcutter Bee and Resin Bee females provide eggs with pollen and nectar.
The eggs hatch and will eat the pollen and nectar before pupating.
- Leafcutter Bee
- Megachile sp., body length 15mm
- We sometimes find the bee on flower during summer. The bee has a relatively flat body. Its thorax and head are hairy. The top of abdomen is smooth, with white and black striped colour. The abdomen bottom is bright yellow in colour. Sometimes we find circular holes in soft-leaved plants, these are made by the female Leafcutter Bee which uses the leaf to build her nest. Please also visit this page.
- Black Leafcutter Bee
- Lithurgus sp., body length 10mm
- The bee has a relatively flat body. Its thorax and head are hairy. The abdomen is white and black colour striped. We sometimes find this Leafcutter Bee resting on grass during summer evening. Please visit this page for more pictures and information.
- Fire-tailed Resin Bee
- Megachile mystaceana (Chalicodoma mystaceana), body length 15mm
- Fire-tailed Resin Bee has black head and thorax. Its abdomen is distinctively bright, orange-brown in colour. This is a solitary bee and build nest by resin, gum or mud in enclosed spaces such as space between folds of fabric and old Mud-Dauber Wasp nest. They will nest in drilled wooden blocks too. We have more informstion and pictures in this page.
- Resin-dauber Bee
- ? Megachile or Nomia sp., body length 12mm
- We found those resin cells in Anstead Forest on March 2009. They were attached on a large gum tree trunk about one meter above ground. We collected them by cutting with the bark, brought them home and check what would come out. We carefully open the top of one cell and found a pupa inside, but we accidentally damaged it.
- Two bees hatched on Dec 2009. They were kept in a large jar and die without our notice.
- On the Christmas day 2009 morning, the third bee came out. We used a stand to hold the bark and the cells. The bee first rested on the bottom of the stand, then it slowly walked up on the stand. We put the stand outside in our backyard and it flied away after a few minutes.
- 1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 998.
- Reference:
- 1. Native Bees of the Sydney region, a field guide - Anne Dollin, Michael Batley, Martyn Robinson & Brian Faulkner, Australian Native Bee Research Centre. P44.
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