Thursday 21 March 2019

World's biggest bee found alive


By Helen Briggs BBC News, Science and Environment
22 February 2019
The world's biggest bee has been re-discovered, after decades thought lost to science.
The giant bee - which is as long as an adult's thumb - was found on a little-explored Indonesian island.
After days of searching, wildlife experts found a single live female, which they photographed and filmed.
Known as Wallace's giant bee, the insect is named after the British naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace, who described it in 1858.
Scientists found several specimens in 1981 on three Indonesia islands. It has not been seen alive since, although there was a report last year of two bee specimens being offered for sale online.
In January, a team followed in Wallace's footsteps on a journey through Indonesia in an attempt to find and photograph the bee.
"It was absolutely breathtaking to see this 'flying bulldog' of an insect that we weren't sure existed anymore, to have real proof right there in front of us in the wild," said natural history photographer, Clay Bolt, who took the first photos and video of the species alive.
"To actually see how beautiful and big the species is in life, to hear the sound of its giant wings thrumming as it flew past my head, was just incredible. "


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