Megachile lucidiventris

Resin bee, Megachilid bee at Tennent, ACT

Megachile lucidiventris at Tennent, ACT - 31 Dec 2014
Megachile lucidiventris at Tennent, ACT - 31 Dec 2014
Megachile lucidiventris at Tennent, ACT - 31 Dec 2014
Megachile lucidiventris at Tennent, ACT - 31 Dec 2014
Megachile lucidiventris at Tennent, ACT - 31 Dec 2014
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Identification history

Megachile lucidiventris 6 Nov 2016 michaelb

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User's notes

On the lower slopes of Mt Tennant, in Namadgi NP. Original ID by Ken Walker at BowerBird was Megachile (Eutricharaea) maculariformis, corrected by Michael Batley.

7 comments

roymcd wrote:
   2 Sep 2016
An interesting photo. It reminds me that I saw an Attenborough documentary on TV where a parasite burrowed into an ant's brain and made it climb a stalk of grass and bite on to it. Maybe a similar process at work here?
michaelb wrote:
   2 Sep 2016
No Roy, nothing so sinister ! They are just settling down to roost for the night. It is common for Leafcutter bees to go to sleep in this way. They have strong jaws! Blue banded bees do it too.
roymcd wrote:
   2 Sep 2016
Haha ok thanks Michael, how interesting :-)
   7 Nov 2016
Nice pictures Michael. They are, in fact, male resin bees belonging to the species Megachile lucidiventris.
michaelb wrote:
   7 Nov 2016
Thanks for your comment Michael. Almost all the bee sightings on this website are mine and have been ID'd by Ken Walker from BowerBird.
I am happy to change this one because just from a look at other photos on the internet your ID seems better.

Have you had a look at the other sightings?
   7 Nov 2016
I had not looked at the others, but now that I have, here are a couple of thoughts.
Amegilla cingulata has not been found south of Taree. My guess is that the first two Amegilla picutres are A. asserta and am fairly confident that the third the A. chlorocyanea.
The bee identified as Exoneura (Brevineura) sp. is Ceratina australensis.
The female bee labelled Lipotriches flavoviridis certainly belongs to the species complex that includes L. flavoviridis, but the orange tegula covering the base of the forewing suggests to me that it is Lipotriches phanerura and if the roosting males are the same size, as I suspect they are, then they, too are L. phanerura, not L. australica.
Bee identification is a lot of fun, but very difficult using photographs.
michaelb wrote:
   10 Nov 2016
Hi Michael
I'll reply to this by a private email.

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Sighting information

  • 4 - 15 Abundance
  • 31 Dec 2014 07:53 PM Recorded on
  • michaelb Recorded by

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  • 5mm to 12mm Animal size

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