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Two new species of Leioproctus (L. aureofimbriatus from eastern New South Wales and L. haemodori from south-western Australia) are described. Both species have been found only when visiting Haemodorum species that have dull brown to black flowers that do not open. The bee species are closely related to each other, but their relationship with other Leioproctus species is unclear. Both have morphological features that would assist in foraging from the flowers, males have similar terminalia and antennae with the apical segment flattened and expanded. This last feature occurs also in the distantly related species Leioproctus (Ceratocolletes) antennatus resulting in occasional misidentifications. We have not created a new subgenus for these species because of difficulties with separating phylogenetically significant features from adaptive or adventitious ones. The mutualistic association between the bees and flowers has some novel characteristics and warrants further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bee responses to anthropogenic disturbances have received much recent attention in scientific literature. These studies typically involve 1–3 years of sampling along spatial gradients of disturbance, though occasionally greater temporal replication and/or longer time periods are used at the expense of spatial replication. We surveyed bees using a blue vane trap during spring, summer and autumn from 2008 to 2017 at one location in Canberra, Australia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest near‐continuous record of bee activity in the southern hemisphere. We use these data to describe the temporal dynamics of the bee community, which was characterised by high annual variability in overall abundance, richness and composition and a negative correlation between spring rainfall and bee activity. The phenologies of abundant species are also described. Our findings relate only to our study site but are similar to findings from other long‐term studies conducted in the northern hemisphere, which collectively present a picture of high natural variability in bee communities that must be considered when interpreting findings of bee responses to anthropogenic disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bees are mobile organisms that seek food and nesting opportunities from a range of habitats. It is important to understand the way they move in agricultural landscapes if we are to conserve them and benefit from their activity as pollinators. We surveyed bees using directional flight interception (Malaise) traps over a 1-year period in two agricultural landscapes in south-east Queensland, Australia. We placed traps at the ecotone between crops and remnant vegetation to establish the pattern of movement between these habitats. Species richness in these landscapes (70) was high relative to that in comparable studies. Some bees were active year round, but most were caught in the period September to March. Across the whole assemblage there was a significant pattern where more species were detected leaving rather than entering remnant vegetation. The same bias was true for the number of individuals of the two most abundant species ( Homalictus urbanus and Apis mellifera). Species exclusively found in crops were smaller on average (and therefore have smaller foraging range) than their non-crop counterparts. Together, these patterns indicate that while bees are abundant in crop habitat, the remnant vegetation is important as the point of origin for bee movements, and the riparian remnant in particular is richer than the dry native remnant. Compositional similarity among samples was significantly explained by landscape but also movement direction (i.e. to or from the riparian remnant) because different species showed different patterns of response. The landscape with greater native vegetation cover supported more species in and around crops than the landscape with less native vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The endemic Australian bee genus Trichocolletes is revised. Forty species are recognised, including twenty-three new species: Trichocolletes aeratus, T. albigenae, T. avialis, T. brachytomus, T. brunilabrum, T. capillosus, T. centralis, T. dundasensis, T. fuscus, T. gelasinus, T. grandis, T. lacaris, T. leucogenys, T. luteorufus, T. macrognathus, T. micans, T. nitens, T. orientalis, T. platyprosopis, T. serotinus, T. simus, T. soror and T. tuberatus. Four new synonymies are proposed: Paracolletes marginatus lucidus Cockerell, 1929 = T. chrysostomus (Cockerell, 1929); T. daviesiae Rayment, 1931 = T. venustus (Smith, 1862); T. marginatulus Michener, 1965 = T. sericeus (Smith, 1862); T. nigroclypeatus Rayment, 1929 = T. venustus (Smith, 1862). TrichocolIetes rufus (Rayment, 1930) is moved to Leioproctus and T. rufopilosus (Rayment, 1935) to Anthoglossa. Descriptions are given for new species and redescriptions for species described before 1965, including first descriptions of males of T. aureotinctus (Cockerell), T. burnsi Michener, T. latifrons (Cockerell) and T. maximus (Cockerell) and the females of T. dowerinensis Rayment and T. rufibasis (Cockerell). Lectotypes are designated for Lamprocolletes venustus Smith and Anthoglossa plumata Smith. Keys to species are provided for both sexes, as are distribution maps and a summary of recorded floral visitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]