efloraofindia:''For Id 240520121MR1’’ ?fluorescent beetle on Ecbolium ligustrinum at Pune

[Bhagyashri]

Hello,

Pune May 2012

Would appreciate your help to Id this fluorescent blue colored ?beetle on Ecbolium ligustrinum. It was moving very fast making a loud buzzing sound. Is it the mouth parts and the eye that is seen in the pic?

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Thanks and regards

Bhagyashri 

[Giby Kuriakose]

It is not a beetle. But it is a species of Amegilla bee of  Apidae family. 

It is a solitary bee and a good pollinator. 

Very fast in movement and foraging nectar within few seconds (1,2 or 3 sec) it forages nectar from a flower that fit for this bee.

Regards,

Giby.

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GIBY KURIAKOSE PhD
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE),
Royal Enclave,
Jakkur Post, Srirampura
Bangalore- 560064
India
Phone - +91 9448714856 +919947109987 (Mobile)
visit my pictures @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/giby

[Giby Kuriakose]

Hi,

Usually after foraging bees/insects fold back the proboscis and then straighten as it reaches the next flower. But here since the bee is very fast in foraging and movement from flower to flower, it always keep its proboscis strait. It might be a strategy to avoid wasting time and keep the fast movement and foraging. If you follow the bee after visiting certain number of flowers, it rests somewhere and remove pollen grains and dusts from its body 

Regards,

Giby

[Bhagyashri]

Thank you so much Giby ji for the Id and this very interesting info about the bee. Yes, as you said it was foraging extremely fast for just a few seconds. I hope to spot it resting some day. Nature is amazing: blue colored bee, another shade of blue is the flower and yet another shade of blue the anthers!!. There was another pollinator too foraging the same flower. I will post it separately.

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Regards

Bhagyashri 

[Neil Soares]

Hi,  Affirmative. This is the Blue-banded Bee [Amegilla cingulata]. Sending a few of my photographs taken on my property at Shahapur.                   With regards,                    Neil Soares. --- On Thu, 5/24/12, Bhagyashri <iti...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Giby Kuriakose]

I feel the species that Bhagyashri ji had posted is different. There are several species of Amegilla. 

I am not sure about idying species of bees by looking at pictures. Even entomologists wouldn't try that. Because they need to get the minute characters of the insect. Here I feel that the species of Amegilla posted by Neil ji is different from that of  Bhagyashri ji's picture. 

Regards,

Giby

[Saroj Kumar Kasaju]

Images 1,2,3 needs to be removed from this page 

Thank you

Saroj Kasaju