#chilalictus

From an Australian subgenus of the huge Sweat Bee genus Lasioglossum. There’s over 1700 species of Lasioglossum worldwide, and well over 100 species from the Chilalictus subgenus, most of them described by Ken Walker in 1995. 

While mailing off a boxful of interesting beetles from Mt. Ainsley to a Coleopterist I know, I noticed that the flowers growing on the verge had occupants. At least a third of them had these bees, jammed headfirst deep inside the flower, apparently asleep.

There are over 200 species of Chilalictus, and Lasioglossum itself is huge - over 1800 known species. They range widely in appearance, and even more so in behaviour - some specials are solitary, some primitively eusocial, and some kleptoparasitic. Lasioglossum malachurum, the sharp-collared furrow bee, is a Eurpean eusocial species that has been closely studied - even more so after early entomologists realised they'd thought the queens and workers were different species. The degree of eusociality varies according to the climate - in Southern Greece the nests outlive the queen, and her final brood of workers and males mate among themselves.

Lasioglossum (Chilalictus) erythrurum is an Australian communal species, with hundreds of sharing a nest. Workers will share regurgitated nectar with others of their own species, even if they're not from the same nest.

Some species are specialist pollinators, targeting a very narrow range of plants for their food supply.