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Curtin research has recorded the first known appearance of Pseudoanthidium (Immanthidium) repetitum, the African carder bee, in Western Australia and has highlighted the need to closely monitor the impacts of such introduced species on the ecosystem.

Published in 鈥�Pacific Conservation Biology鈥�, the research documented the first WA sightings of the bee, which was first recorded in Australia in 2000 in Queensland, before rapidly spreading down the east coast and by 2015 becoming a common inhabitant of urban gardens in Victoria.

Author, Curtin PhD candidate and Forrest Foundation Scholar Miss Kit Prendergast, from Curtin鈥檚 School of Molecular and Life Sciences, said the first occurrences of the species in WA, represented a major expansion of the distribution of the species.

鈥淪o far there are three confirmed and one unconfirmed site where this species has been seen, all in residential areas of WA鈥檚 Mandurah region,鈥� Miss Prendergast said.

鈥淔emale specimens were collected from a garden in the Mandurah suburb of Halls Head, where it was seen to be abundant and with other bees, both native and the introduced European honeybee, foraging alongside it.

鈥淕iven the sheer distance across the continent, the bee may well have made its way to WA with human-assistance and the fact it has been recorded only in Mandurah, a major port, suggests it may have arrived by boat.鈥�

Miss Prendergast said the bee鈥檚 presence in WA remained rare and localised but given the known negative impacts of introduced species on native fauna and flora, especially in Australia, the impact of such introduced species needed to be carefully monitored.

鈥淲hile the bee could currently be considered benign, introduced species can be 鈥榮leeper鈥� species, and go through a lag phase, following which they become an environmental or economic pest, meaning ongoing monitoring is required,鈥� Miss Prendergast said.

鈥淎frican carder bee nests are easily distinguishable from those of native bees and are made from hair-like plant fibres that females scrape from leaves and stems and roll into balls, with the nest resembling a mass of cotton wool.

鈥淯nlike native Australian bees, which all are solitary nesters, the African carder bee nests communally, where masses of brood cells from multiple females are found in the one place.鈥�

Possible sightings of the small black and white-striped bee or its nests, often found in electrical meter boxes, can be reported to Miss Prendergast鈥檚 Facebook page .

The full paper, First records of the introduced African carder bee, Pseudoanthidium (Immanthidium) repetitum (Hymenoptera : Megachilidae), in Western Australia, can be found online .