Megachile erythropygaMegachile erythropyga nesting

Images and Author Gary Taylor

I’m up on my little stepladder where I can get a bit closer. I was up on it trying to take pics of a tiny Hylaeus, but I’d seen the big girl (Megachile erythropyga) flying around and was just thinking “she won’t land while I’m hovering over her flower like this…” when in she came, right past my earhole 😃 Compared to Euro bees this girl sounds like a B 52 Bomber coming in to land, I could feel the beat of wind from her wings like a vibration as she passed over my hand 🙂

Author Gary Taylor

This page is a work in progress…


  • Scientific Classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Arthropoda
  • Subphylum: Hexapoda
  • Class: Insecta
  • Informal: Pterygotes
  • Order: Hymenoptera
  • Superfamily: Apoidea
  • Informal: Apiformes
  • Family: Megachilidae
  • Subfamily: Megachilinae
  • Tribe: Megachilini
  • Genus: Megachile
  • Species: Megachile erythropyga

Footnote & References

  1. Megachile erythropyga, Photographs © Gary Taylor
  2. Megachile erytropyga, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:cab58063-61fd-44a8-bc78-79df59f9dbba

Megachile erythropygaMegachile erythropyga nesting

BeesBees Anatomy Bee Behaviour Blogging Bees… Bees – image index Amegilla Bee Apis mellifera Austroplebeia australis Austrothurgus  Braunsapis sp Ceylalictus perditellus Colletidae Euryglossinae Exoneura Homalictus Hyleoides bivulnerata Lasioglossum Lasioglossum (Chilalictus) Lipotriches Megachile Meroglossa Stenotritidae Tetragonula Thyreus Xylocopa