Beetles - Blue-Chested Wood Bee: A Fashion Icon Among Advanced Blues

Today, I'm going to introduce you to the 'Blue-Chested Wood Bee'.Blue-Chested Wood Bee

cyaneoderes caerulea

Arthropods, Insects, Order: Hymenoptera, Family: Apidae, Subfamily: Megachilinae, Genus: Cyaneoderes. They primarily inhabit tropical regions, commonly found in areas with dense wildflowers, and are mainly distributed in Guangxi, Hainan, and Yunnan in China. Photo taken in Wenshan Malipo.

Compared to the common Chinese honey bee, the blue-chested wood bee is a 'big guy' in terms of size. Mature blue-chested wood bees can be as large as a human thumb, and they fly very fast while emitting a buzzing sound.

Of course, the most distinctive feature of the blue-chested wood bee is its elegant blue color. The female bees have blue hairs on the head, thorax, and outer side of the outer legs of the front legs, as well as parts of the abdomen, while other parts are black, combined with shimmering purple metallic-looking wings, which are beautiful under sunlight and are undoubtedly 'fashion icons',

Compared to female bees, male bees are slightly smaller in size, with hair color that is a lighter grayish-blue, and the two teeth on their upper jaws are blunter.

Wood bees of the Cyaneoderes genus often build nests in dry wood cavities, with nest chambers made of wood shavings and plant fragments mixed with saliva, hence the name.

Fan Yi, an ecological photographer. He has won the International Garden Photographer Award for 4 consecutive years and won the first prize in the wild plant category of the 2018 China Ecological Photography Competition. He is committed to photographing the human landscape and biodiversity beauty in western China, especially in Yunnan.