Blue-Banded Bee vs Yellow-faced Horntail

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Blue-Banded Bee Yellow-faced Horntail
Scientific Name Amegilla cingulata Sirex nitobei
Order Hymenoptera Hymenoptera
Family Apidae Siricidae
Size 10-12 mm 15–30 mm
Habitat Farmland Forests
Diet Nectar Feeders Wood Feeders
Regions Australia, Southeast Asia, India East Asia
Conservation Least Concern Not Evaluated

Blue-Banded Bee

A striking Australian native bee with iridescent turquoise bands on its abdomen. They are important buzz pollinators of tomatoes and other crops.

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Did You Know?

They bang their heads against flowers at 350 times per second to vibrate pollen loose, a technique called buzz pollination.

Yellow-faced Horntail

A large woodwasp native to East Asia that occasionally appears as an invasive species. Females bore into larch and pine to deposit eggs.

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Did You Know?

It carries the same damaging symbiotic fungus Amylostereum areolatum as its relative Sirex noctilio.