Four New Bee Species Discovered in Australia

Australia Found Four New Bee Species

The South Australian bee specialists have been proved the 4 new native species by molecular and morphological evidence. The study will introduce a new barcoding which will be built to contain the barcode sequences of the identified Australian native bees. This database in the future will not only help scientists who have molecular tools but do not have sufficient knowledge of bees to identify species but also allow taxonomists to use the molecular information to solve specific problems.

After careful evaluation of the DNA sequence data and subsequent morphological comparison of the collected bees to museum type specimens, they recognized four new species in the genus Euhesma, which they subsequently described. Three of the bee species belong to the group of bees that specialise on the emu-bushes flowers. They have narrow faces and long mouth parts to allow them to collect nectar through a narrow constriction at the base of the flowers.  The fourth found species belongs to a different group within this large genus and has normally shaped head.

So far the project includes 271 sequences of 120 species that were collected during the Bush Blitz surveys. The researchers intend to build on the existing DNA database to cover as many as possible of the Australian species.

“It is hoped that this will stimulate native bee research,” said Dr. Hogendoorn to Entomology Today</a>. “With about 750 Australian bee species still undescribed and many groups in need of revision, there is an enormous job to do.” The researchers demonstrated

http://entomologytoday.org/2015/09/17/four-new-bee-species-discovered-in-australia