‘Devilish’: New Bee Species with Horns Discovered in Western Australia
A newly identified species of native bee, notable for its tiny “horns” and devil-inspired name, has been found in the Goldfields region of Western Australia.
Discovery Details
The flying pollinator was discovered during a survey of the critically endangered wildflower marianthus aquilonarius, which only grows in the Bremer Range area, approximately 100 km west of Norseman.
Scientific Naming and Inspiration
Native bee expert Dr. Kit Prendergast named the insect Megachili (Hackeriapis) Lucifer, drawing inspiration from the popular Netflix series and the bee's unique horned facial features.
“These horns are very distinct and devilish, I wanted to call it a devil-like name and so I decided Lucifer,” Dr. Prendergast told PerthNow.
“Lucifer means light bringer in Latin — I want to bring light to these issues around the lack of conservation of native bees, how many species are undescribed and how many threatened plants which we haven’t identified their pollinators.
Also, I love the Netflix show Lucifer.”
Research Background
Dr. Prendergast, an adjunct research fellow at Curtin University, explained that the wildflower survey occurred in 2019, but only recent funding has allowed the formal classification of the bee.
“We want to create a library with all the DNA barcodes of Australian native bee species, so I barcoded it, and it didn’t match anything. And it’d been on my mind for years,” she added.
Conservation Message
The naming aims to highlight the urgent need for native bee conservation and the many unknown pollinator relationships that remain to be discovered.
Summary: A newly discovered native bee with distinctive “horns,” named Megachili (Hackeriapis) Lucifer, underscores the urgent need to conserve undocumented Australian pollinators and their ecosystems.