11 September 2016
As you will know by now, I just love my wildflowers - and now that Spring is here, I am taking in everything that has popped up after some recent rain. I was looking at these beautiful vibrant yellow native Australian Common Buttercups (Ranunculus lappaceus), when I noticed some of them had small 'bees' on them. I took some photos on my phone which weren't real flash for identification, so went back with the macro lens to get better photos.
I am very lucky to have such a wonderful network of clever people - and thanks to Ken Walker, I have the positive identification of Lasioglossum lanarium (White-banded Bee or Native Sweat Bee). These bees were around 1cm in length, and weren't moving much at all on the Buttercups, just tucked in around the centre of the flower. I found others with the same behaviour on other nearby Buttercups also. Ken tells me that this is typical behaviour of males on flowers waiting for a female to arrive. He says that he has often seen these males say overnight inside a flower which closes its petals at night!
I am so glad that I went back for better photos to pass onto an expert - as this is another new record for Jarowair Our Patch.
J.G.
As you will know by now, I just love my wildflowers - and now that Spring is here, I am taking in everything that has popped up after some recent rain. I was looking at these beautiful vibrant yellow native Australian Common Buttercups (Ranunculus lappaceus), when I noticed some of them had small 'bees' on them. I took some photos on my phone which weren't real flash for identification, so went back with the macro lens to get better photos.
I am very lucky to have such a wonderful network of clever people - and thanks to Ken Walker, I have the positive identification of Lasioglossum lanarium (White-banded Bee or Native Sweat Bee). These bees were around 1cm in length, and weren't moving much at all on the Buttercups, just tucked in around the centre of the flower. I found others with the same behaviour on other nearby Buttercups also. Ken tells me that this is typical behaviour of males on flowers waiting for a female to arrive. He says that he has often seen these males say overnight inside a flower which closes its petals at night!
I am so glad that I went back for better photos to pass onto an expert - as this is another new record for Jarowair Our Patch.
J.G.
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| Lasioglossum lanarium (White-banded Bee) on native Buttercups at Jarowair 9 Sept 2016 |
Three Lasioglossum lanarium (White-banded Bee) on native Buttercups at Jarowair 9 Sept 2016
I haven't seen bees quite like these before. Amazing that a male bee will stay in a closed flower. Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteWonderful shots, especially that first one!
ReplyDelete