My small bee hotel established in 2021 has been a hit with the local population, usually fully occupied. I see many different native resin, leaf cutter and a few carpenter bees around. Lately, I've been seeing more of these bees or wasps show up. I'm having a great deal of trouble identifying them. Can anyone help me? It has a distinctive round abdomen, single pale yellow ring, and a tail coming out of the torso.
If you don't know of it, iNaturalist helps with relatively quick IDs. Upload a photo, an AI will give you options with percentage matches it thinks, and then other people will take a look and ID what they think
I should of course mention, this was taken in NSW.
Could you cross post this great contribution with Aussie Enviro please?
Btw, this website might come in handy at some point: https://www.aussiebee.com.au/
I'm no expert, but because of the way the ovipositor curves around the abdomen, I'm guessing something in Leucospidae
That‘s a brilliant hotel design!
I’ve always been told bee hotels are harmful as they help spread illnesses?
If you need confirmation of species, I suggest contacting some east coast resident experts: Dr Tobias Smith or Dr Tim Heard. I've crossed paths with them both a few times at ANBA events and they know their stuff. I can provide contact details for them if Google comes up short.
Thanks for cross-posting and great to know you are having such success. It shows that there's a need for more bee 'accommodation' just like with people. I hope other people follow your example. You said you got your bee hotel from Bunnings in your cross post. I'll check to see whether our local one has them. You've inspired me to put up a post on how to build a bee hotel. It's easy for people who are handy and have the right tools.
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