''Hylaeus sanguinipictus'' is a
bee
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...
species
endemic to
Western Australia. It was described in 1914 from material collected in Yallingup by
Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell as ''Prosopis sanguinipicta''.
Like its relative the banksia bee (''
Hylaeus alcyoneus
''Hylaeus alcyoneus'', commonly known as the banksia bee, is a bee species endemic to Australia where it is commonly found in the coastal heaths of eastern and southern Western Australia. This bee is an important pollinator of '' Banksia'' spec ...
''), ''H. sanguinipictus's'' expression of
sexual dimorphism is unusual — the males of the species are larger than the females; in most other types of bee, females are larger than males. The males perch and defend ''Banksia''
inflorescences while waiting to mate with females, and combat other males.
Western Australian banksias that the bee has been recorded visiting include ''
B. menziesii'' and ''
B. prionotes''.
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]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2412430
Colletidae
Hymenoptera of Australia
Insects described in 1914
Taxa named by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell