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Impaled 'Honey bee'

Apis sp.

Description:

Occasionally I have found various hymenopterans, dead and unattended, and trapped in the spiny leaves of Acacia pulchella (Prickly Moses). Bent antennae, and enlarged, scooped rear tibiae. Estimated size would be 15mm long. No other creature was in attendance and this one seemed complete and intact.

Habitat:

In a large local nature reserve.

Notes:

Thanks Juan for direction - Apis genus.
Likely Apis mellifera but the abdomen looks strange so I'm still researching other Apis spp. http://www.padil.gov.au/pests-and-diseas...
Exists in Australia?
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?searc...
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:b...
There is some possibilty that a bird is impaling them for later? Butcherbirds behave this way.

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2 Comments

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 9 years ago

Ah great! Thanks so much Juan. I was wondering about those legs. So many end up dead on this spiky plant.

Juan DiTrani
Juan DiTrani 9 years ago

Hi Mark. It seems to me this is a common Honeybee (Apis mellifera). Its probably suffering a disease because is missing most of the body hair. Yet, specially in the second picture you clearly see the "spoon like" structures in the hind legs for collecting pollen, very distinctive of Apidae family.

Mark Ridgway
Spotted by
Mark Ridgway

Victoria, Australia

Spotted on Nov 28, 2014
Submitted on Dec 1, 2014

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