The Blue Banded Bee has a very striking appearance. Unlike the honey bee, it has pale blue stripes on
its abdomen instead of yellow. The male can be distinguished by the number of complete bands, having
five as opposed to the females' four. If I count correctly the one on the photo is a male. In size,
the Blue Banded Bee can grow from 10 to 12 millimeters. It makes a hard buzzing noise and doesn't
want to sit still, very hard to capture in a photo.


Superfamily: Apoidea
Family: Apidae
Subfamily: Apinae
Tribe: Anthophorini
Genus: Amegilla
Species: Amegilla cingulata