Blue-banded Bee

Description:

The beautiful Blue Banded Bee has a furry golden thorax and iridescent blue stripes on a glossy black abdomen, and they grow to 11-12mm. This is a solitary bee but females may build nest together in same location. As they get older, the fur on the thorax becomes more sparse. The males have five complete bands and females have four, and the species gets its name from the latin word “cingulum”, meaning belt, and refers to the bee's bright abdominal bands. Blue Banded Bees have large bulging eyes have multiple lenses, and a long ‘tongue’ that enables them to extract nectar from trumpet shaped flowers like the abelia. Source: http://bluebandedbees.com/.

Habitat:

Spotted in the garden amongst Lantana camara flowers.