Elegant Hairy Cellophane Bee - Trichocolletes Venustus

Mid-August and there are not a lot of insects around in what has been a very wet winter. Last year I had seen an Elegant Hairy Cellophane bee on native sarsaparilla (Hardenbergia violacea) on a nearby track so on a sunny afternoon thought I would check it out. According to iNaturalist this bee has been sighted in Queensland and down the Eastern coast into Victoria and South Australia, most of the sightings are in Victoria. Mine is the only sighting in the Shoalhaven.

There are a number of native sarsaparilla patches along this track and another track running parallel to it, so I visited each patch on a number of occasions over the next few days.

The only area where the bees were present was a 100m stretch at the end of the track. There were 3 patches of Sarsaparilla here and the bees were seen on two of them. Interestingly they are next to another 100m stretch which has 4 Bullant nests and various other ground burrowing ants. A lot of Vincentia has a clay base, but this area at the end of the track appears to be much more loamy. It has a higher sand content mixed in with the clay and easily breaks up when lightly rubbed between my fingers. It appears to be perfect for burrowing insects to make their nests and that is important for the bee.

These bees often form in aggregations and build individual nests by burrowing in the soil. (See Connectingcountry.org.au ) They burrow a main shaft down into the earth with side passages off the main shaft. The ends of the side passages are sealed with a cellophane type material made from saliva and glands on the abdomen. These cellophane pockets provide good protection from moisture and other insect attack. They fill these cellophane pockets with nectar and pollen, lay one egg and then seal the pocket with cellophane. When the egg hatches the larvae will feast on the nectar and pollen before pupating.

In the main patch there were at least 3 females. As I moved from one flower to the next across the patch I spotted 3 separate bees collecting nectar and pollen. There may be more as they tend to move around and it is difficult to keep track of each one.

I also tried following them to get an idea where they were nesting but they are difficult to follow and I was unsuccessful.

It is possible the one to the left is a male. It was not foraging in the sarsaparilla, instead it rested on reeds and every few minutes did a full search of all the bushes within the area. It would then return to a different reed and wait a few minutes before continuing its search. Once it met a female in flight, they touched and then he continued searching. I assume the one he found had already mated and he was looking for a virgin female.

It is possible these native bees are more common than would be suggested by the iNaturalist observations, however they are not easily recognised because they are similar in appearance to the western honeybee. The first time I saw them I thought they were western honeybees until I had a closer look at the photos.

Overall, an interesting native bee that I will continue observing while the native sarsaparilla is blooming.