Editorial photo #6909144 Human Interest
Animal India
A blue-banded bee is on the Pink rain lily (Zephyranthes rosea) flower at Tehatta, West Bengal, India on 26 July 2021. The blue-banded bee (Family: Apidae), or genus Amegilla is the native bee of Australia and South (and South East) Asia. The blue-banded bee is solitary and lives alone and it is a big help in the vegetable garden, performing a particular type of pollination known as ''buzz pollination'', or sonication, in which it holds onto the flower and shakes its body rapidly. This type of pollination is really useful on crops such as tomatoes, blueberries, cranberries, kiwi fruit, eggplants and chilies. For this reason, the blue-banded bee is extremely valuable to farmers. (Photo by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto)
