Another native bee

Bee in throat of red hibiscus
Diving deep inside

I wrote recently about the honey-producing native bees and, a little longer ago, about the Blue-banded bees which have been so numerous in my garden recently, but there are many others. Wandering around the garden of the house on Hervey’s Range last week I spotted an hibiscus flower with an insect deep in its throat. All that was visible was a furry golden abdomen. I waited and was able to catch a shot as it reversed out:

Furry bee emerging from hibiscus flower
Reversing out

It flew on and nose-dived into the next flower, so it obviously thought it was onto a good thing.

I looked it up later. It seems likely to be Amegilla aeruginosa, also known as Notomegilla aeruginosa (Apidae: Apinae: Anthophorini). Its colour is somewhat greenish when seen away from the intense red of the flower.

Bees in this family (Anthophorini) are solitary and usually make nests in the ground; most of them are quite large but have disproportionately small wings. My Blue-banded bee, another Amegilla species, is also a member of the family.