Yesterday I found these weird and wonderful bees in my garden. At first I thought it they were just another couple of my honey bees until one landed and I realised how bright its body was.
There were two hovering around and one was periodically landing and looked to almost be flicking crusher dust from the path with its feet - as though it was covering the hole behind it.
It is slightly larger than a honey bee (like a drone size) and was a little bit louder too. It could even be a wasp I suppose, but the size, stature, wings and proportions of its body look much more like a bee. The abdomen looks very much like a blue banded bee but the bright yellow body is totally different. You can see the blue tinge in the last photo.
I found many different native bees in the garden before (domino cuckoo - like my profile pic - blue banded bees, tropical carpenter bees etc.), but always I’ve been able to identify them within a few minutes on google. These guys however I can’t find anywhere, so would love to know what they are.
If anyone doesn’t know the bee but knows a good place to ask let me know!
Thanks for the pics and posting Wynnie, I haven’t seen one like it before and it might be a new unidentified species. When you have a name for it let us know, it certainly is different with the very yellow legs and blueish hue in the bands. Amazing how many bees live underground.
Cheers
I think @skeggley nailed it. A Bembix (sand) wasp. I recall someone else looking for an identification. That ended up being a Sand Wasp.
It’s amazing how some bees look like wasps & vice versa. A predator of native bees, the Syrphid Fly looks to me like a wasp. For years I saw them hovering about thinking they were wasps. All they want to do is do the same thing in a native bee hive as what SHBs do in honeybee hives. SHBs will do the same thing in native bee hives, if given the chance.
You are The Man! Nicely done, Skeggs, nicely done. By the way, I agree, @Wynnie’s photo is awesome. Much better than most of the professional photos on web sites. Back patting all around, I think!
OK @skeggley, I have another one for you. Spotted today in southern France, on a verbena bush. I think it may be Amegilla quadrifasciata? Any thoughts from you or any other native bee lovers?
Hey Dawn, that’s a pretty bee alright and without question is a relative of our blue banded bee, two of the 250 odd known Amegilla genus’ so similar.
Likely another buzz pollinator too. A quick look on Wiki says ours have blue bands because they like blue flowers. Must be true ‘coz it’s on the internet.
I completely agree. Even when I saw it, I thought it was a blue-banded bee, but very very pale blue. This particular species seems to be called a white-banded bee, but the are still Amegilla. She had a lovely thin blue/white stripe down the back of her hind legs too. Not visible in our photo. Apparently they are solitary, but there were several of them on this verbena bush (it was a very big bush - over 2m diameter). I loved watching her at work
By the way, I agree, 
Must be true ‘coz it’s on the internet. 
