Author Gary Taylor ◦
Woohoo, reckon I’ve got a “new” species of native bee in my BeeTown…. 😃
It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve had a bush run. Midwest WA got its first rains last week, a whopping 75mm over 3 days (that’s about an hour’s worth for you guys over East 😄), and of course Murphy insisted on it being on my days off… 😂
So, first up, a couple of pics from our previous run, again the tiny male Hylaeus (Prosopisteron) vittatifrons (1st and 2nd pics). Rarely noticed but from what I’ve seen, one of the most “long running” (I’ve photographed them from November thru to June), abundant and common species of native bee here in Midwest WA…. And, 3rd pic, another one I should know but don’t, but it’s honestly only there ‘cos I don’t like even numbers 😅
But! 4th and 5th pics… While I wasn’t watching my BeeTown, a “new” species of Hylaeine had been busy capping off her nest, and by golly I wish I’d seen who’d done it… (yeah it’s a “family” page, didn’t actually use those exact words😅). But the reason I know it’s a “new” species (to my BeeTown), is ‘cos I’ve never seen any Hylaeine make a nest cap like this…
Check out those long straight parallel (and very close to horizontal) lines… 😃
Hyleoides makes a stunning sphincter like lace curtain that opens and closes when they enter or exit, H. violaceus and H. Gnathoprosopis make a typical rumpled “cellopane” like nest cap. H. nubilosus does the same, but often camouflages her cap with bits of chewed up bark and stuff. I’ve even photographed one that actually makes a perfectly fitting, and camouflaged, self-closing hinged door… Dunno who this new girl is, with her near perfect straight lines, all running the same direction, but my OCD side already loves her to bits… 😂
Geraldton, Midwest WA
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