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World's largest bee found in Indonesian rainforest in 'holy grail' discovery

The world's largest bee has been rediscovered in Indonesia - AFP
The world's largest bee has been rediscovered in Indonesia - AFP

A long-lost giant bee, which had not been seen since 1981, has been rediscovered by scientists in an Indonesian rainforest.

Mechachile Pluto, also known as Wallace’s giant bee, is four times the size of a honeybee and the largest in the world, with its females growing a wingspan of more than 6cm and huge, well-developed jaws.

A team of US and Australian conservationists and scientists who found the bee in January in the North Moluccas islands in northeast Indonesia described the moment as the “holy grail” of species discoveries.

The single female bee was found living in a termites’ nest in a tree, more than two metres off the ground.  The team said it had scoured and observed similar brown soil termite mounds, where the bee is known to burrow, for five days before having any success.

Simon Robson, an Australian biologist who joined the expedition, funded by the Global Wildlife Conservation group, told National Geographic magazine that they were discouraged and about to call it a day when they searched one last mound which had a tiny hole in it.

The bee was discovered in a termites' nest in the rainforest - Credit: Clay Bolt/PA
The bee was discovered in a termites' nest in the rainforest Credit: Clay Bolt/PA

It became clear that a bee was inside and a collection tube was inserted at the hole’s exit point. Eventually a full-sized female bee walked out.

“We yelled and screamed and hugged each other,” said Mr Robson. After photographing and filming it, they let it return to its nest.

Eli Wyman, a biologist at Princeton, was also on the mission, and said he could feel the displacement of the air as the bee flew by. “Such an incredible, tangible experience from an animal that had only lived in my imagination for years,” he said.

The Wallace's bee is roughly four times larger than a European honeybee - Credit: Clay Bolt/AFP/Getty Images
The Wallace's bee is roughly four times larger than a European honeybee Credit: Clay Bolt/AFP/Getty Images

The existence of the giant bee, which can measure nearly 4cm in length, was first scientifically recorded in 1858 by Alfred Russel Wallace, a British explorer and naturalist, who described the female of the species as “a large, black wasp-like insect, with immense jaws like a stag beetle”.

The bee was thought to be extinct until six nests were rediscovered on the island of Bacan in 1981 by Adam Messer, an American entomologist.

It had not been seen alive again since, although over the past few decades bodies of the giant insect had been seen on the trade market.

It’s currently legal for this species to be sold across borders, as the animal is not protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.  Researchers say the bee is being threatened by deforestation and habitat loss.

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