Author Marc Newman ◦
Back in 2011, we (Bernhard Jacobi, Linda Rogan, Paul Zborowski, and self) were on a GoBeeWA trip looking for bees to photograph. We weren’t fussy what we found because WA bees are pretty special but we were hopeful of finding one of 24 species from the family Stenotritidae.
Travelling along the Great Eastern Highway late October, looking for a turnoff to a large granite outcrop WA is famous for, and where we had heard there was a sighting of the Stenotritidae. We got lost and decided to pull up and have a look around. Exiting the 4×4 my son had lent me, we saw a bunch of these flowers in bloom on a low growing shrub and this bee was everywhere. Discovered at -31 13 0.188 120 14 2.18 in case others want to have a look.
Incredible luck and what a beautiful bee, Trichocolletes pulcherrimus in numbers on a plant called Urodon dasyphylla. It was interesting the bee was the same colour as the flower, both spectacular. This is one of my favourite bees.
Footnote & References
- Photographs Trichocolletes (Callocolletes) pulcherrimus on Urodon dasyphylla © Marc Newman, Flickr, https://flickr.com/photos/koolbee/albums
- Bees > Trichocolletes > Trichocolletes pulcherrimus
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