Rare Australian Native Bee Rediscovered A Century After, Only Six Currently Found

An extensive field quest for a rare bee, specifically an Australian native bee, as seen on Gardening Australia's YouTube video, not recorded for almost a century, has discovered it has been there all along, although perhaps, under rising pressure to survive.

According to a Phys.org report, only six of the said rare bees were found, with the record published of this Australian endemic bee species known as Pharohylaeus lactiferous in Queensland from 1923.

Commenting in a scientific study published in the Journal of Hymenopetra Research journal, James Dorey, a researcher from Flinders University, said this is alarming. It is the only Australian species in the Pharohylaeus genus, and there was nothing known about its biology.

The quest started after fellow experts in bees, Olivia Davies and Dr. Tobias Smith, raised the probability of extinction of the species based on the absence of any recent detections.

'Rediscovery'

Such a rediscovery followed wide-ranged sampling of over 220 general and 20 targeted sampling areas across Queensland and New South Wales.

Along with extra recordings of bees and vegetation from the Atlas of Living Australia, which has listed 500 bee species in NSW and 665 in Queensland, the Flinders scientists sought to examine the latest levels of actual diversity, cautioning that habit loss and fragmentation of rainforests of Australia, along with wildfires and climate change are possible to put extinction pressure on this, as well as other invertebrate species.

Dorey, a Ph.D. candidate from the said university, said three populaces of P. lactiferous were discovered by sampling bees visiting their preferred plant species along much of Australia's east coast, proposing population isolation.

Highly fragmented habitat and potential host specialization might provide a clear explanation of the P. lactiferus' rarity.

40 Percent of Forests and Woodlands Cleared

Australia has already cleared over 40 percent of its forests and woodlands since the colonization of Europe, leaving a large part of its residue fragmented and degraded.

Dorey explained that his geographical assessments used to explore the destruction of habitat in the West Tropics and Central Mackay Coast bioregions specify the vulnerability of rainforests and P. lactiferus populations in Queensland bushfires, specifically in the context of a patchy or fragmented landscape.

This particular research cautions that the said bee species is even more susceptible as it appears to prefer certain floral specimens.

More so, bees of this species were only found close to tropical or sub-tropical rainforest, a type of single vegetation.

The expert also explained that collections specify probable floral and habitat concentration with specimens only visiting firewheel trees, Illawarra flame trees, Protaeceae or Stenocarpus sinuatus Malvaceae or Brachychiton acerifolius, to other available flora resources' exclusion.

Known Bee Populations Remain Rare and Vulnerable

Known populations of P. lactiferus, the researchers concluded, stay rare and vulnerable to habitat destruction, for instance, from changed use of lands or events like fires.

Dorey said future studies need to increase and enhance their understanding of the P. lactiferus' biology, ecology, and population genetics.

He added that if they were to understand and protect these Australian bee species, there is a need for them to augment their biomonitoring and conservation initiatives and funding for the curation of museums and digitization of their collections other efforts.

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