Teddy Bear Bee

Size about 18mm. This golden, hairy bundle of bee is quite distinctive. It is big, and shiny orange all over. It was busy visiting our basil and grevillea flowers. It's English name seems well chosen to me. Officially, there are no true bumble bees in Australia, although there were some attempts to introduce them in 2008. This bee seems closely related to the Blue Banded Bee. With the Great Carpenter Bee this group of three big and stocky bees are natives.