Author Gary Taylor

This is one of the Hylaeines, Meroglossa rubricata, not the busiest bee in town, she spends a lot of her day just chillin’ out in her nest watching the world go by…

In the post above of a Meroglossa rubricata nesting in my BeeTown, she was just resting up in her nest, so they are mostly face shots, and although they’re fairly common here in coastal midwest WA, I don’t think they’re found in other states so for those unfamiliar with them here’s a few more pics.

The first pic was one of those moments we all beg for so often while trying to photograph native bees, “Oh come on… Please… just stop still for a moment, two seconds is all I need… Aaarrgh no not there behind the leaf!… Nooo now you’re in the shade, your colour won’t show… How about you just come and land right in front of me on an unobscured leaf out in the bright sunshine and stay dead still while I get up close and take a heap of pics, and then we can both just get on with our day… yeah like that’s gonna happen… 😄” But it did! I couldn’t believe it… If only all bees were that compliant… Anyway, it shows how bright she is in full sunlight at the right angle.

Female Meroglossa rubricata, Midwest WA © Gary Taylor
Female Meroglossa rubricata, Midwest WA © Gary Taylor

Which may make you think she’s not exactly well camouflaged from predators… But! In the colour spectrum, red is the weakest, the first to fade in low light, in even partial shade or from a lower angle this girl goes deep dark red and in full shade she nearly looks black. So how does this help? Well, like a lot of Hylaeines, her tactic to evade predators isn’t to suddenly fly away like other bees would, she knows she’d stick out like dogs balls on a cat, so instead she does a commando roll out of the flower and drops into the shadows below disappearing like a ninja never to bee seen again…

Female Meroglossa rubricata, Midwest WA © Gary Taylor
Female Meroglossa rubricata, Midwest WA © Gary Taylor

I’d seen it many dozens of times, each time watching to try to see where she went but each time losing sight of her as soon as she hit the shadows… But then a chance glimpse of sunlight through the leaves as she dropped one day and I saw her flip upside down in mid free fall flight and land on the underside of a lower leaf like a fly landing on the ceiling… Ahh, so that’s why I’ve never seen where you went… you didn’t go anywhere… Well done gorgeous girl…

Female Meroglossa rubricata on Geraldton wax flower (Chamelaucium uncinatum), Midwest WA © Gary Taylor
Female Meroglossa rubricata on Geraldton wax flower (Chamelaucium uncinatum) © Gary Taylor


…And the last two pics are the male, last pic isn’t great focus wise but the only one I have from full front on showing the typical fuller face markings associated with distinguishing between male and female Hylaeines 🙂

Male Meroglossa rubricata, Midwest WA © Gary Taylor
Male Meroglossa rubricata, Midwest WA © Gary Taylor
Male Meroglossa rubricata, Midwest WA © Gary Taylor
Male Meroglossa rubricata, Midwest WA © Gary Taylor

Check out the other blogs in this Meroglossa rubricata series:
an awesome “Commando roll” | Ruby… bubbling | Ruby and the wasp | Party at the nest | red is the weakest, the first to fade in low light | A white bubble

See our Fauna section on Bees for more info on our gorgeous Meroglossa rubricata.


Footnote & References

  1. Blogs by Gary Taylor, Images © Gary Taylor