The Not So Tiny World of Bees

Meet the tiny, hairy, pollen-crazy creatures.

Photo by Megan Adrain

There are around 20,000 bee species in the world with 2,000 known Australian native bee species. Some common native bee species include the blue banded bee, the native stingless bee, and the teddy bear bee (my personal favourite).

Left: Blue Banded Bee, Middle: Native Stingless Bee, Right: Teddy Bear Bee

(Images sourced on Canva)

Some say that bees are vegetarian wasps. It is believed that bees evolved from wasps when a wasp fed its baby pollen instead of an insect.

When you think of the life of a bee, you probably picture a lively hive with tons of bees flying around serving their queen. Well, I’m sorry to inform you but most Australian native bees live their life solitary and sometimes even underground, with only a few species living in colonies. The teddy bear bee is one that lives in their own individual home. The female teddy bear bee will burrow herself a small nest in the soil. However, other teddy bear bees will often come and build their little home nearby, like neighbours, creating a little town for themselves.

Bees collect pollen through their hair. When a bee lands on a flower the hair on the bees’ body attracts the pollen through electrostatic forces. Some bees have an extra trick up their sleeves, using buzz pollination to reach those extra hard-to-reach places where pollen is hiding. The Australian blue banded bee is an example of a buzz pollinator. In some plant, the pollen gets trapped inside a closed flower, so the blue banded bee will wrap itself around the flower and vibrate, causing the pollen to shoot out, allowing the bee to collect the pollen (it’s quite impressive). Not many bees can do this though.

Most native Australian bees do not make honey, unlike the introduced honeybees, Apis mellifera. The only native bee known to make honey is the native stingless bee. The native stingless bee produces a tangy honey called ‘sugarbag.’ With each hive only being able to produce up to one kilogram of honey per year, this honey is extremely rare and valuable. The native stingless bees’ honey has been recognised by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to have healing qualities, with recent research into the honey proving that stingless bee honey has strong anti-microbial qualities (even better than what is seen in manuka honey).

Honeybees (Apis mellifera)

(Image sourced on Canva)

Although there are 2,000 known native Australian bee species, not much research has been done into the true impact these tiny creatures have on our ecosystem. With approximately 75% of crops relying on bee pollination, bees are very important in keeping this world running.

Sources

https://www.wheenbeefoundation.org.au/about-bees-pollination/australian-native-bees/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-20/world-bee-day-five-quick-facts/103868396

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ziLEcU8pAQ

https://www.aussiebee.com.au/teddy_bear_bee.html

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-21/native-honeybees-provide-popular-bush-tucker/9333278