Scientists in South Moravia have confirmed the first sightings of the leafcutter bee, a non-native bee species from the Megalidiate family native to East Asia, seen in the Czech Republic in mid-July. The sightings were announced by the Prague-based Research Institute of Crop Production on its website yesterday.
The species has been recorded in various European countries in recent years, and experts have been expecting it to appear in the Czech Republic, where it does not yet have a name in the Czech language.
The non-native bee was spotted by experts while monitoring invasive pests on a flowering Japanese pagoda tree in South Moravia. They saw two specimens and caught one.
The bee is native to Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan, and resembles bumblebees and carpenter bees in size. The female is 20-28 millimetres long with a black head and rump, and the chest covered with rusty brown hairs. The wings are transparent, and darker in the outer part.
In flight, the leafcutter buzzes distinctly. It deposits pollen on the underside of its rump, which distinguishes it from the honey bee. The bees are not aggressive and use their sting only in self-defence. They nest in the cavities of wood.
This species was first seen in Europe in 2008, in France, and from there it has gradually spread, especially across warmer areas. Last year, it was reported in southern Slovakia and in Germany, mainly in the south and in large cities with warmer climates and frequent occurrences of cranes.
Although a non-native species, it is not considered dangerously invasive, and no eradication measures are in place against it. The risk to native fauna is low at present. After a few years, the abundance of this bee species should stabilise and it should become a regular part of the Czech fauna.
- The featured image is courtesy of JRxpo (CC BY-SA 2.0).
