Aussie Bee Bulletin
Rare photos and intriguing facts on the secret lives of Australian Native Bees.

Issue 2 (May 1997)

THIS ISSUE'S FEATURED BEE Blue Banded Bee (Amegilla

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

THE BEAUTIFUL BLUE BANDED BEES - Named after their spectacular stripes of iridescent, metallic blue fur, these bees love to nest in soft sandstone, old mortar or even mud bricks. We give tips on how to attact them to your backyard.

THE MOST POWERFUL STINGLESS BEE SPECIES IN QUEENSLAND - The hardy Trigona hockingsi from tropical Queensland and the Northern Territory adapts well to humans, even using wet house paint as a substitute in its nest building!

AUSSIE BEE WINTER RESIDENCE TAKES SHAPE - Come and visit the greenhouse we are building where we can house our rarer tropical bee nests and develop new methods of caring for and feeding native bees.

FLIGHTS OF FANCY - Behind the delicate rainbow-tinted wings of native bees lies a marvellously engineered structure of muscles, hooks, veins and hairs.

ON NATIVE BEE SAFARI: THURSDAY ISLAND AND OLD MAPOON - Les and Anne Dollin sail to Thursday Island and find native bees everywhere, in the rectory, in classrooms, in trees in the main street.

STINGLESS BEES IN 1883 (PART 2) - Harold Hockings explains how Trigona carbonaria stingless bees defend themselves and what life is like in their hives. And he describes two swarms engaged in a deadly duel!

THE ORCHID THAT CATCHES STINGLESS BEES - The delightfully fragrant yellow bush orchid Dendrobium monophyllum has only one pollinator - Trigona stingless social bees - which crawl inside the flowers and get caught there for up to 30 minutes.