Tetragonula Clypearis are one of Australia’s smallest bees. I fell in love with this little bee at first sight.
They are found all over cairns and the surrounding areas. They prefer to build in a house rather than a tree when given the option. Out of the 30 or so nests I saw all of them were well under a liter in size. Most would fit inside a coke can.
The queens are usually a bright orange in colour. Hive bees tend to maintain an orange abdomen after hatching and workers a light brown. When viewed on a flower next to another Tetragonula species both the size and colour variation are visible to the naked eye.
One observation I noted is several lines running parallel to the bee’s body located on the thorax. Carbonaria, Hockingsi and Sapiens do not have these.
While Tetragonula Clypearis are small, their method of survival is their size. When honey and pollen is scarce this bee still manages to find some because they only take small amounts. Their size also aids them in climbing deep into flowers to get pollen that other bees cannot reach.
The brood is much like Clypearis’s big brother Tetragonula sapiens in that they sometimes keep the new brood separate to the old. They often squeeze their brood into tight spaces because that’s what they prefer.
They are a swarmy bee! Clypearis swarm into holes and setup shop with great haste. If another colony is weak it won’t be long before a stronger one takes its place. Hard working is their personality. One swarm I observed looked like the very familiar carbonaria swarms that we see in southern climates.
They are not overly messy when building inside a box and seem to collect less dark propolis then Carbonaria and Hockingsi. They do build an entrance tunnel if ants or predators are a problem.