Tiny bee with devil horns discovered in Western Australia

The unusual species was spotted during targeted surveys of the critically endangered wildflower Marianthus aquilonarius, which grows only within the Bremer Range region located between Norseman and Hyden.

Lead author Curtin Adjunct Research Fellow Dr. Kit Prendergast, from the Curtin School of Molecular and Life Sciences, explained that the female bee's distinctive horned face inspired the name lucifer, a term meaning "light-bringer" in Latin, while also referencing its devil-like appearance.

Unusual Traits and How the Species Was Identified

"I discovered the species while surveying a rare plant in the Goldfields and noticed this bee visiting both the endangered wildflower and a nearby mallee tree," Dr. Prendergast said.

"The female had these incredible little horns on her face. When writing up the new species description I was watching the Netflix show Lucifer at the time, and the name just fit perfectly. I am also a huge fan of the Netflix character Lucifer so it was a no-brainer.

"DNA barcoding confirmed the male and female were the same species and that it didn't match any known bees in DNA databases, nor did the specimens I had collected morphologically match any in museum collections.

"It's the first new member of this bee group to be described in more than 20 years, which really shows how much life we still have to discover -- including in areas that are at risk of mining, such as the Goldfields."

Risks to Bees and the Plants They Support

Dr. Prendergast said the find demonstrates the need to better understand native bees before their environments are altered.

"Because the new species was found in the same small area as the endangered wildflower, both could be at risk from habitat disturbance and other threatening processes like climate change," Dr. Prendergast said.

"Many mining companies still don't survey for native bees, so we may be missing undescribed species, including those that play crucial roles in supporting threatened plants and ecosystems.

"Without knowing which native bees exist and what plants they depend on, we risk losing both before we even realize they're there."

The research was supported by the Atlas of Living Australia, the Goldfields Environmental Management Group and the USDA Agricultural Research Service.