[Pollinator] Bees wax and Australian art

[Peter Bernhardt]

Here is a recent article sent by an old friend in Australia.  It suggests that the rare, old, stenciled, art  on rocks was made with the help of beeswax.  While Australia has many bee species (representing about 5 bee families) most are not producers of significant amounts of wax.  The only native "hive" bee belongs to the genus Tetragonula and the honey was/is eaten by native people.  These bees tend to avoid the cooler southern region of the continent.  Since the stenciled art discovered is rather tiny perhaps a couple of hives would have provided enough wax to make the  rock art.  Wendy Grimm has a hive of T. carbonaria in her garden and may have more comments on the subject.


Ren, read the wiki and note the reference to this bee species collecting the pollen of native Cycas.  One wonders if anyone has ever seen these bees drinking the pollination droplets on the ovules of female cones?


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-27/rare-rock-art-found-in-nt-park/12287914<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-27/rare-rock-art-found-in-nt-park/12287914__;!!K543PA!Z2Uy5RBlS5yH9xJbta0G9nOKXtxRJ9QsZFRQREuh-0om4ZPb_fNEcAZprXFrVgV2TAqQ$>

If you want to learn a little more about Tetragonula have a look at the wiki...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragonula_carbonaria
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Sugarbag_bee.jpg]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragonula_carbonaria>
Tetragonula carbonaria - Wikipedia<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetragonula_carbonaria>
en.wikipedia.org



<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://overview.mail.yahoo.com/?.src=iOS__;!!K543PA!Z2Uy5RBlS5yH9xJbta0G9nOKXtxRJ9QsZFRQREuh-0om4ZPb_fNEcAZprXFrVr00A3vs$>
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