[Pollinator] New Bee Species in Australia

[Peter Bernhardt]

*A colleague at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney sent me the following
news release.  I went to the site but found only a photograph of the new
Amegilla (teddy bear) bee.  Would someone have a photo to share of bees in
the genus Euhesma?  Are narrow heads that unusual in this genus? I'd need
to check old papers and notebooks but believe I collected some Euhesma
species on Acacia back in the early 1980's.*


*For those unfamiliar with emu bush or native fuchsia (Eremophila;
Myoporaceae), this is a genus of over 200 species found primarily in
Australia's drier, land west.  Supposedly the shiny fruits of some species
are eaten by emus.  Flowers of different species are variable in size and
color but the only ones I'm familiar with are red, scentless and pollinated
by native birds in the Meliphagidae.  For a closer look at the flowers see
the following link...*


http://anpsa.org.au/APOL22/jun01-2.html


Peter



*From:* Ifeanna Tooth
*Sent:* Thursday, 22 September 2016 9:32 AM
*To:* _RBGDT-SCIENCE & CONSERVATION BRANCH <PlantSciencesBranch at environme
nt.nsw.gov.au>
*Subject:* New species of Eremophila pollinating bee found in SA



Hi Everyone, I thought some of you might find this interesting, regards,
Ifeanna



South Australian bee specialists have uncovered four new native bee species
– three of them with special narrow heads and unusual long mouth parts
allowing them to feed on emu bush flowers.

The four new native bees were found during the nature discovery project
Bush Blitz expeditions at Cane River Conservation Park in the Pilbara
region, WA, and Bon Bon State Reserve, south of Coober Pedy, in SA.

Published in the journal ZooKeys
<http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=6185> and led by the University
of Adelaide’s Dr Katja Hogendoorn
<http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/katja.hogendoorn>, the researchers
describe the four new species in the genus Euhesma, based on evaluation of
DNA ‘barcoding’ and morphological comparison of the bees with museum
specimens.



The project is a collaboration with Dr Remko Leijs and Associate Professor
Mark Stevens from the South Australian Museum.



From: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news80582.html

See image at: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/au
stralias-largest-species-discovery-program-makes-discovery-
near-roxby-downs/news-story/9413d522fc55b9a70188835e469c163b
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