Proximate Masked Bee
S1, Male, profile
Proximate Masked Bee
S5, Female, profile
| Proximate Masked Bee S1, Male, profile | | Proximate Masked Bee S5, Female, profile | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Ant Bee Wasps (Hymenoptera) | ||||
| Family: | Colletid Bee (Bee: Colletidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Proximate Masked Bee (Hylaeus proximus) | ||||
| This Photo: | S2, Female, profile | ||||
Thank you Asaph (asaph01) for identifying this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere Females are ~5.5mm long. We thought these females were Red-sided Masked Bee (Hylaeus lateralis). Asaph said "Tip of abdomen not red." We didn't know which Hylaeus the males (with the white shoulder markings) were. When explaining how to tell the difference between bees & wasps, Dr Ken Walker said "The antennae of bees are inserted about half way up the face of a bee whereas the antennae of wasps are inserted on lower half of the wasp face." Asaph said "Male Hylaeus lateralis have white markings." Photographed 5 (3M, 2F) specimens in Dec, Jan, Feb & Mar | |||||
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