Leioproctus huakiwi facts for kids

Leioproctus huakiwi is a special type of bee. It belongs to the Colletidae family. Scientists first described this bee in 2007. It lives only in New Zealand, which means it's endemic there. This bee is quite small and mostly black. It's a solitary bee, meaning it lives alone, not in a hive like honeybees. L. huakiwi builds its nests in the ground. It likes bare, dry, and fine soil. In 2005, some of these bees were successfully moved to a new home in Canterbury. This process is called translocation.

What's in a Name? (Taxonomy)

Scientists give every living thing a special name. This helps them organize and study nature. This bee was first described in 2007. A scientist named Barry James Donovan gave it the name Leioproctus huakiwi. The first bee specimen used to describe the species is kept safe. It is stored at the New Zealand Arthropod Collection.

What Does It Look Like? (Description)

This bee is quite small. It can be between 7.7 and 11.8 millimeters long. Female bees are usually bigger than males. Both male and female L. huakiwi bees are mostly black. Their antennae are mostly brown. The very end part of their body, called the metasoma, is brown to black. The tip of this part is red. Female L. huakiwi bees have a special feature. They have a raised ridge on their face. This helps scientists tell them apart from similar bees.

Where Does It Live? (Distribution)

You can find L. huakiwi bees on the North, South, and Stewart Islands of New Zealand. However, over the last 200 years, farming has changed a lot of land. This has caused these bees to disappear from some places where they used to live.

Home and Food (Habitat and Hosts)

These bees live all over New Zealand. They can be found in areas with plants. They live from sea level up to 1050 meters high. Their nests are built in the ground. They like bare, dry, and fine soil. You might find their nests on sandy beaches or along riverbanks. They also nest in gardens and on golf courses. Sometimes, their nests are found near nests of other New Zealand bees. It's hard to tell their nests apart from those of L. pango just by looking.

L. huakiwi bees are not picky eaters. They visit many different types of plants. They collect pollen and nectar from both native and introduced plants. Adult bees have been seen on flowers of native plants like Carmichaelia stevensonii, Cordyline australis, Hoheria angustifolia, Kunzea ericoides, Leptospermum scoparium, and Hebe stricta. They also visit flowers of plants brought to New Zealand. These include Actinidia deliciosa, Daucus carota, and Persea americana.

How It Behaves (Behaviour)

Adult L. huakiwi bees are active for several months. You can see them flying around from October all the way until April.

Helping the Bees (Conservation Status and Translocations)

The Department of Conservation keeps track of threatened species. In 2017, L. huakiwi was not listed as threatened. However, it is known to be rare in the Canterbury region. Before 2005, only a few scattered nests were known there. Then, hundreds of nests were found in a home vegetable garden!

This discovery led to an exciting project. Scientists decided to try moving some of these nests. They moved them to Plant & Food Research at the Canterbury Agriculture and Science Centre. The goal was to see if moving these bees to new places could help them survive. After three years of study, the results were great! The number of bees at the new site grew a lot. It increased by 8 to 25 times. This showed that moving these bees can be a successful way to help them.

Why the Name? (Etymology)

The name huakiwi comes from the Māori name for kiwifruit. This bee often visits kiwifruit blossoms. That's why scientists chose this special name for it.