A new species of colorful bee discovered in Fiji but fears that it will be kept out of climate change

Homalictus terminalis is so named to indicate that, like many Fijian bees, it is nearing its limit and is threatened with climate-related extinction. Credit: James Dorey, Flinders University

Fiji Biodiversity Barometer – New species described in light of environmental changes

Biodiversity is alive and well in Fiji, but climate change, noxious weeds and multiple human activities make extinction a possible word.

While Australian researchers are discovering new species of colorful bees, some of them are already showing signs of exposure to environmental changes.

Flinders University doctoral candidate James Dorey – whose macrophotography has captured some of Fiji's newest bee species – says the designation of nine new species offers researchers an opportunity to highlight the risks.

"Homalictus terminalis is named to indicate that, like many Fijian bees, it is approaching its limit and is threatened with climate-related extinction," he said.

"Found only on Mount Batilamu, near the town of Nadi, where many tourists launch their vacation, H. terminalis was only found at 95 meters from the top of the mountain."

University students from southern Australia participating in the Australian government's overseas study program New Colombo traveled to Fiji in the southwestern Pacific for several years. They named nine new species in one of their last Zootaxa.

The impressive Homalictus black achrostus, with large, unusual mandibles, is one of the most interesting endemic bee species in Fiji.

But, like many species of Fijian bees, H. achrostus has never been found at the top of a single mountain.

Australian researchers have combed the Fiji highlands in search of new species of bees, now describing nine new species of bees, including Homalictus groomi. Credit: James Dorey, nature photographer from Flinders University

"Six individuals were collected on Mount Nadarivatu in the 1970s and two in 2010, but despite frequent searches almost every year, no other animals were found," says the Associate Professor. Flinders University, Mike Schwarz, co-author.

"Climate change is a likely factor in this possible extinction," says Associate Professor Schwarz.

"The cooler climate of the Fijian highlands could be pushed slowly up and out of the mountain peaks, bringing with it the species that need this climate refuge.

"With H. achrostus, one of the four endemic bee species previously described in Fiji, this raises real concerns about the extinction of many upland species in Fiji and in all the tropics . "

Dr. Mark Stevens, principal investigator of the South Australia Museum, Terrestrial Invertebrates, explains that the genus of Bee Homalictus Cockerell has not been the subject of a taxonomic review in the US. archipelago of Fiji for 40 years.

"These field visits allowed us to rewrite four known species and to describe nine new ones, bringing to 13 the number of Homalictus endemic to Fiji," says Dr. Stevens, who is collaborating with the group. study.

"Most of the species diversity (11 species) lives at 800 meters or more above sea level, which highlights the vulnerability of restricted species in the highlands to global warming."

One of the new species, Homalictus groomi, was named in honor of Dr. Scott Groom, a Flinders graduate in biological sciences, who discovered this hidden diversity using molecular techniques with Flinders University and the South Australian Museum in 2009.

Previous Biological Sciences Tours of the New Colombo Plan have also studied the effects of weeds and human activities on other animals and plants in Fiji.