Worlds biggest bee rediscovered

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47311186


The world's biggest bee has been re-discovered, after decades thought lost to science.
The giant bee - which is as long as an adult's thumb - was found on a little-explored Indonesian island.
After days of searching, wildlife experts found a single live female, which they photographed and filmed.
Known as Wallace's giant bee, the insect is named after the British naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace, who described it in 1858.
Scientists found several specimens in 1981, but it has not been seen since.
In January, a team followed in Wallace's footsteps on a journey through Indonesia in an attempt to find and photograph the bee.

Coincidentally the worlds biggest fly swatter has been discovered!

Bees are good, even the big ones.

Bees aren't wasps.

Wasps aren't so good. They are more aggressive and less directly beneficial, and they kill bees to get their honey. They also come bigger than the Wallace's bee... the Asian giant hornet gets up to 45 mm long, while the bee females only get to 38 mm and the males are smaller.

Swat the wasps--with a tennis racket--but leave the bees. Please.

Hey if I saw something that big buzzing around my bedroom, I would
definately reach for something big and heavy......

Last year I couldn’t open my bedroom window for a few months as a load
of giant hornets had decided to nest somewhere nearby. Every time I opened
a window these 3 inch long buzzing things came inside.

Thank goodness for Raid creepy crawley spray killer.

really interesting!

There is a giant black bee flying around here in Central Texas, too. I've only seen it a few times and don't know if it's similar to the one in Indonesia. I didn't get too close to it. In fact, I went in the other direction - AWAY from it! FAST!!!!

Someone told me it was probably a Bee Killer or a Robber Fly and that it can snatch a bird out of the air to eat it. I don't know how true any of that is, but if someone in the southern regions can enlighten me, I'd appreciate it.

The way my browser window was sized, this thread title appeared as...

Worlds biggest bee r...

It's clickbait, I'm telling you.

I thought you were the largest bee.

Was it a honey bee or queen bee. Or a Shakespearean bee, to be?

Don’t know but I think it has a big sting.

It may have been a carpenter bee they are big and black

https://bestbeebrothers.com/blogs/blog/black-bees-how-to-differentiate-a-bumble-bee-vs-carpenter-bee

Thank you Adstar, I believe you're right. I didn't realize carpenter bees get that huge. Although the one I saw was even bigger.

Why this person is holding one in their hand, I have no idea. Don't try this at home.

Does dis mean we need bigger spelling bees?

Guessing you never ran into a swarm of KILLER BEES, right?

Only in my dreams.

Africanized "killer" bees bear remarkable temperamental similarity to social justice warriors.

Wasps and bees - 99% of the time they will leave you alone, it's when you start swiping they get aggressive and see it as a threat.. Obviously there's the rare occasion of people being stung without aggravation.

I love bees.

Ages ago I nearly walked into a swarm of bees. I was walking the dog
while chatting to someone when they suddenly pulled me to one side.

I was just about to walk into a branch sticking out of a hedge covered in bees.

The branch just looked like it was moving and crawling. Yuk