The Devil is in the Beetails: Newly-Discovered 'Lucifer' Bee Sports Horns, Gold-Black Hairs

Entomologist Kit Prendergast of Curtin University first saw a black, devilishly-horned bee in a gold mining region of Western Australia. Right away, she knew she’d stumbled upon a new species. She also knew just what to call it.

“I discovered the species while surveying a rare plant in the Goldfields," Prendergast said in a press release Tuesday. She noticed that the bee was attracted to the endangered wildflower she was studying. “The female had these incredible little horns on her face," she noted. "I was watching the Netflix show Lucifer at the time, and the name just fit."  

Prendergast settled on the scientific name Megachile lucifer for the insect. The bee seemed drawn to the rare blue flowers that are found only in that tiny valley. That's why Prendergast believes the lucifer bees were found there. It also puts them at just as much risk from habitat loss as the flowers.      

“Many mining companies still don’t survey for native bees,” Prendergast said. "We may be missing undescribed species," she added. "Without knowing which native bees exist and what plants they depend on, we risk losing both before we even realize they’re there."

The bee was first found in 2019. But it has taken six years to scan and compare its DNA to other types of bees. Doing so confirmed that it was, in fact, a new species.   

Thought Question: If you found a new plant or animal that no one had ever seen before, what special name would you give it and why?

Photo of Megachile lucifer courtesy Curtin University.