A devilish new bee species

[Kit Prendergast]

HotOffThePress - an absolutely devilish NEW species of native bee I discovered and described has just been published, coinciding with Australian Pollinator Week! Its name: Megachile lucifer.

Prendergast, K. S., & Campbell, J. W. (2025). Megachile (Hackeriapis) lucifer (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae), a new megachilid with demon-like horns that visits the Critically Endangered Marianthus aquilonaris (Pittosporaceae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 98. doi:10.3897/jhr.98.166350

https://jhr.pensoft.net/article/166350/

The Conversation article:

https://theconversation.com/i-discovered-a-new-australian-native-bee-but-there-are-still-hundreds-we-need-to-identify-267008

Social media post:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ5TWD-E0nv/?igsh=MWxvNzBvMmF1ZTBlMQ==

Its moniker refers to the devil-like horns of the female (but also because I'm a huge fan of the Netflix show Lucifer and the eponymous main character Lucifer Morningstar played by Tom Ellis).
This species visits a critically endangered plant, Marianthus aquilonaris, in a region that targeted for mining (around Lake Johnston of the Goldfields). For many threatened plants, we do not even know what visits them. For many mining and development projects, there is no requirement to even survey, let alone mitigate or offset potential impacts on the native bee and invertebrate communities. Another big threat is climate change - this new species appears to be highly seasonal, and active during the narrow window of time a Eucalypt blooms - one of its host plants. 

Not only does the name lucifer refer to Lucifer, but it is also Latin for 'Lightbringer', and I hope this new species shines light on the need to better invest in, monitor, and research Australian native bees and their conservation. 

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Thank you Josh Campbell my coauthor too!

And grateful for the grants from Atlas of Living Australia and Goldfields Environmental Management Group 💚

https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ5TWD-E0nv/?igsh=MWxvNzBvMmF1ZTBlMQ==

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Dr Kit Prendergast

Native bee scientist, conservation biologist and zoologist

University of Southern QLD Postdoctoral Researcher (Pollination Ecology)

Adjunct Curtin University and Forrest Scholar Alumni

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Research: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kit-Prendergast/research

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