Australians are in awe of a native bee covered in deep blue stripes after learning the unusual insect can be found across the country.
Blue banded bees are native to Australia and get their name from the bright blue stripes across their abdomens.
These little creatures can be found all over the country, apart from Tasmania, yet many Aussies have been shocked to find out they exist.
A photo taken by wildlife photographer Nick Volpe went viral on social media, with the picture being shared to multiple pages
While the bees have stingers they are not known to be aggressive and are attracted to native plants including tomato flowers.
The insects, which are also known by their scientific name Amegilla cingulate, live solitary lives and don’t produce any honey.
These types of bees are known for performing a special type of pollination called ‘buzz pollination’, which allows them to get pollen out of particularly tricky flowers.
To do this, the bee grabs on to the flower and shivers using its flight muscles, causing the pollen to shoot out.
The blue bees can grow to up to 11mm and usually live for around 40 days.
Males have five coloured bands around their bodies while females have four.
Many people revealed they had never seen this type of bee before or knew they existed.
