In January 2019, natural history and conservation photographer Clay Bolt and a group of American and Australian biologists rediscovered world’s largest bee, Wallace’s giant bee (Megachile pluto), on the Indonesian islands of the North Moluccas after 38 years. They filmed and photographed a female specimen alive for the first time.
In THIS NO.11 Thisis take you to the tropical forest to observe the giant bee and discuss the biodiversity loss we face today.
*Click to enlarge the Strips below
SCIENTIFIC CONTENT – YONGMEI GONG
ARTISTIC DESIGN – PEI YU LIN
PICTURE CREDITS/SOURCES:
- 1. Clay Bolt
- 2. ebay
- 3. Sánchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys, 2019
- 4. Luisa Rivera (Yale E360)
- 5. Dave Boehnlein
Further reading
- The Guardian- World’s largest bee missing for 38 years
- National Geographic- World’s largest bee rediscovered
- Science Magazine- where have all the insects gone?
- The Guardian- Climate change on track to cause major insect wipeout
- Worldwide decline of entemofauna
- Varjiramias- Insect population decline
- https://www.pnas.org/content/115/44/E10397
- Yale- insect numbers declining and why it matters
- CNN- Five things you can do to protect insects