Luminescent bees with ‘unusual metallic reflections’ are discovered as new species

Julia Daye
·1 min read
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Three new species of luminescent bees have been discovered in California and Arizona, according to a paper published Jan. 25 in Zootaxa.

The paper cites their “unusual metallic reflections” that separate them from other bees in the area. You can see the striking luminosity on their bodies.

In the study, taxonomists studying hundreds of samples from Southern California and Arizona identified and named three new bees. They have been dubbed:

  • Lasioglossum (Sphecodogastra) iridescens

  • Lasioglossum (Sphecodogastra) dilisena

  • Lasioglossum (Sphecodogastra) silveirai

The named the second species using the epithet “dilisena,” the Sri Lankin Sinhala word for “shining.” The first author in the study, Thilina Hettiarachchi, is from Sri Lanka.

Scientists like to know the ancestry of their findings and whose work paved the way for current discoveries. Though this study relied on the collection of specimens by multiple taxonomists, one in particular played a large part.

Philip Hunter Timberlake, an entomologist at UC Riverside who died in 1981 at age 98, collected many of the specimens that led to this new discovery. Timberlake also happened to be former President Richard Nixon’s uncle.

“As far as I know, he is the only bee taxonomist to attend a presidential inauguration,” Jason Gibbs, a researcher in the study, told McClatchy News in an email.

Thanks to these specimens and the researchers studying them now, the discovery of these bees means new frontiers for taxonomists.

“A colleague has already been able to use the study to find more representatives of one of the new species in Mexico,” Gibbs said.

“One of the benefits of works like this, is that it leads to new discoveries. We hope there are follow-up efforts to learn more about these species and their habitat and floral associations.”

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