Amegilla aurantia

Tilcayo Cats original · Amegilla · Sources and editorial assessment · Originals retention rule

Amegilla aurantia is an orange-haired Australian bee described in 2020. The name-bearing male was collected at Mount Augustus in Western Australia; the female used in the description came from Yampire Gorge. Its name refers to the orange appearance.

Identification

Females have pale yellow facial marks, an orange hind-leg pollen brush and some black hairs at the front corners of the second upper abdominal plate. Males have round black bristle patches on the third and fourth abdominal sternites, with broad indentations along those plates' margins.

Flowers

The revision records the bee on Stemodia grossa, Trichodesma zeylanicum and Pityrodia augustensis. It also lists Eremophila maculata with a question mark, so that plant identification remains uncertain. A flower visit is evidence of where a bee was encountered, not proof that the plant is its sole pollen source.