A New Species of Australian Native Bee with Kit Prendergast

It’s possible that you’ve heard about a new species of bee from Western Australia that has a snout like a dog. But did you know it specializes on just a few species of plant from the Fabaceae (legume) family? And how did it get named L. zephyr? And what does it mean to be a “plasterer bee?” Hear about all of this and more as we get a behind the scenes look into the wonderful world of native bees with Dr. Kit Prendergast.

Kit Prendergast’s paper “Leioproctus zephyr, an oligolectic new bee species with a distinctive clypeus” is in Volume 93 of the Journal of Hymenoptera Research. It can be found here: https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.93.85685 New Species: Leioproctus zephyr Episode image courtesy of Kit Prendergast Follow Kit onTwitter: @BeeBabette Or on Instagram: @bee.babette_performer

Kit also has Facebook: @The Buzz on Wild Bees Be