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Hylaeus (Prosopisteron) littleri
Tiny fortune teller with a crystal ball? These little bees (about 6mm long) were very busy around red flowering gums today. Very aware of my movements they hid quickly but if I kept still for about 30 seconds they soon returned to their work. They would visit a flower, capture a droplet of nectar, then exit to land somewhere nearby and slowly shrink the globule to a tinted concentrate. Very entertaining.
Reddish front section on the abdomen. White flash on the head behind the eye.
On Corymbia (red flowering gum) in a local sports reserve.
Hylaeus (Prosopisteron) littleri (Cockerell, 1918)
These little bees concentrate nectar by exposing it for evaporation. The males in a very close relative (in WA) display territorial behaviour.
"Hylaeus carry pollen in the crop, rather than externally, and regurgitate it into the cell where it will be used as larval food. Like most colletids, the liquid provisions are sealed inside a membranous cellophane-like cell lining; nests are typically in dead twigs or plant stems, or other similarly small natural cavities, rather than constructing or excavating their own nests as in many other bees." - Wikipedia
order: HYMENOPTERA
superfamily: APOIDEA
suprageneric: APIFORMES
family: COLLETIDAE
subfamily: HYLAEINAE
genus: Hylaeus
Distribution map http://spatial.ala.org.au/?q=lsid:%22urn...
http://www.australiannativebees.com/N_Pi...
Thanks for confirmation Juan. I'm pleasantly surprised I actually found species. :-)
Spotted on Mar 25, 2014
Submitted on Mar 25, 2014
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