Credit: James Dorey Photography
A widespread field search for a rare Australian native bee not recorded for almost a century has found it's been there all along - but is probably under increasing pressure to survive.
Only six individual were ever found, with the last published record of this Australian endemic bee species, Pharohylaeus lactiferus (Colletidae: Hylaeinae), from 1923 in Queensland.
"This is concerning because it is the only Australian species in the Pharohylaeus genus and nothing was known of its biology," Flinders University researcher James Dorey says in a new scientific paper in the journal
Journal of Hymenoptera Research.
The hunt began after fellow bee experts Olivia Davies and Dr Tobias Smith raised the possibility of the species' extinction based on the lack of any recent sightings. The 'rediscovery' followed extensive sampling of 225 general and 20 targeted sampling sites across New South Wales and Queensland.