Leioproctus (Leioproctus) clarki

Murrumbateman, NSW

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Identification history

	Leioproctus (Leioproctus) clarki	1 Jan 2023	michael.batley
	Leioproctus (Leioproctus) clarki	31 Dec 2022	SimoneC

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User's notes

About 12 mm, greeny bronze abdomen, pollen collected on hind legs. Very hairy thorax and head

4 comments

michael.batley wrote:

1 Jan 2023

It is with considerable reluctance that I have confirmed this identity. Leioproctus amabilis is much more common and comes in a wide range of colours including greeny bronze. Females of L. amabilis, L. clarki and L. cupreus are separated by features that can't be seen in photos. On balance, I would think that this is a little more likely to be clarki than amabilis, with the proviso that the colour of the abdomen is not definitive.

SimoneC wrote:

1 Jan 2023

Thanks Michael, I thought it looked more like existing images of L. clarki, but I’m aware these online IDs can be self referencing and end up reinforcing errors. That said an expert can sometimes also just “see” a difference that can’t be (or hasn’t been ) used in key - a bit like sexing chickens or a sophisticated AI algorithm - nobody knows how it works. I did see one reference to L. clarki having orange leg hair, which my specimen doesn’t but I wasn’t sure if that was definative

michael.batley wrote:

1 Jan 2023

Glynn Maynard's key uses the colour of the leg hair to separate L. clarki ("whitish") from L. carinatus ("black"), but only after eliminating everything else using the shape of the pygidial plate. Male terminalia may be the only unambiguous way to separate some of these species.

SimoneC wrote:

1 Jan 2023

Thanks Michael, whatever the taxonomy it’s good to finally see a range of native bees in the garden this season

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