WHAT ARE NATIVE BEES?
Aussie Bee > Key Facts about Australian Native Bees
![Australia's largest and smallest native bees](images/xylocopa-and-quasihesma-aussiebee-opt20.jpg)
• There are at least 1,700 species of "true blue" Australian native bees (see photos of some common examples below).
• Commercial honey bees (Apis mellifera) are not native to Australia. They were introduced from Europe in about 1822.
• Australian native bees can be black, yellow, red, metallic green or even black with blue polka dots! They can be fat and furry, or sleek and shiny.
• Australia's smallest native bee is Cape York's minute Quasihesma bee (shown in photo above, with Australia's biggest bee). It is less than 2 mm long.
• Australia's largest native bee is the Great Carpenter Bee of the tropical north and northern NSW. It is up to 24 mm long.
• Most Australian bees are solitary bees which raise their young in burrows in the ground or in tiny hollows in timber.
• Australia also has 11 species of social native bees (genera Tetragonula* and Austroplebeia) which do not sting!
(*Previously called Trigona)
• Stingless bee honey is a delicious bush food and stingless bees can be good crop pollinators. So stingless beekeeping is becoming increasingly popular.
• Native bees are also important pollinators of Australia's unique wildflowers and are a vital part of our Australian bushland.
AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEES |
![stingless native bee](images/tetragonula-carbonaria-9040-aussiebee-opt20.jpg)
Stingless Social Bee (Tetragonula - previously called Trigona) - 4mm. These tiny native bees nest in large social colonies with hundreds or thousands of bees inside hollow trees. They can be kept in hives and produce delicious tangy honey.
![blue banded native bee](images/bluebandedbee-9235-aussiebee-opt20.jpg)
Blue Banded Bee (Amegilla) - 11mm. These delightful solitary bees are one of Australia's favourite native bee species. They nest in shallow burrows in the ground.
![native carpenter bees](images/carpenter-bee-pair-aussiebee-opt20.jpg)
Great Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa) - 24mm. These are the largest native bees in Australia. They nest in soft dead timber.
![native teddy bear bee](images/teddy-bear-bee-4123-aussiebee-opt20.jpg)
Teddy Bear Bee (Amegilla) - 12mm. These brown furry solitary native bees nest in shallow burrows in the ground.
INTRODUCED EUROPEAN BEES |
![introduced european honey bee](images/honeybee-yellow-33756-aussiebee-opt20.jpg)
European Honeybee (Apis) - 12mm. This bee plays an important role in honey production and crop pollination throughout Australia. However, feral nests of this bee are also found in most areas of Australia.
![introduced european bumble bee - photo by Vera Buhl](images/bombus-terrestris-vera-buhl-cc-opt20.jpg)
European Bumblebee (Bombus) - 8 to 22 mm. (Photo derived from work by Vera Buhl, CC BY-SA 3.0.) Australia has no native Bumblebees. A feral population of this bee has become established in Tasmania but fortunately it has not spread to the Australian mainland.