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Concept
Australian native bees
Summary
Australian native bees are a diverse group of bees that play a crucial role in the pollination of native plants. There are over 1,700 species of native bees in Australia, ranging from small solitary bees to the social stingless bees. Social species are capable of producing honey, but not nearly as much as their European counterparts. Native bees are important for native ecosystems, providing essential pollination services to native plants, and hold significant value for Australian agriculture.
Eleven of the species, the social native bees, are in two genera, Tetragonula and Austroplebeia, and have no sting.
Of the remainder, which live solitary lives, none are aggressive, and most can not actually use their sting on humans because they are too small to do so. Larger examples of Australian native bee are capable of stinging if handled or squashed.
The stings of most Australian native species of bee will cause relatively minor discomfort to most people and are, "not as painful as those of a bull ant or paper wasp and last only a few minutes". However, they may sting more than once, and can cause an allergic reaction—increasing effect associated with repeated exposure to the antigen.
None of the native species of bee in Australia are true honey bees, which are native to Europe, Asia and Africa. Social species of native bees do produce honey, but not much, as they are relatively primitive bee species. In cool-climate areas of Australia, all the honey the bees produce is needed by the swarm to live through winter.
Collecting honey from Australian native bee nests can cause many of the bees to drown in spilt honey. The honey is tangy in comparison with commercial honey taken from the European honey bee. The bees store their honey in "small resinous pots which look like bunches of grapes".
The different species of Australian native bee have different habits and preferences in gathering pollen, so different species are better pollinators of a given plant than other species.
Official source
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