The world's largest bee has been rediscovered, although scientists believed it was lost to science.
A giant bee, the size of an adult's thumb, has been found on a little-known Indonesian island. After several days of searching, wildlife experts found and photographed a single live female.
The insect, known as Wallace's giant bee, is named after the British naturalist and explorer Alfred Russell Wallace, who discovered it in 1858.
Scientists found several individuals in 1981 on three islands in Indonesia. Since then, the insect has not been seen alive, although last year it was reported that two bees were put up for sale online. In January, the team, following in Wallace's footsteps, traveled to Indonesia in an effort to locate and capture the bee.
“It was thrilling to see this 'flying bulldog', which we did not know before, get real proof of existence in the wild,” said photographer Clay Bolt, who took the first photographs and videos of the species. "In fact, to see how beautiful and great this individual is in life, to hear her giant wings rumbling past my head, was just incredible."
This discovery in the Indonesian islands known as the Northern Moluccas offers hope that the region's forests are still home to rare insects.
Bee expert Eli Uyman, an entomologist at Princeton University, said he hopes the rediscovery will lead to a deeper understanding of the bee's life history and future efforts to protect it from extinction.
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Wallace's giant bee is on the verge of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. However, trade in these species is not regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. There is currently no legal protection against the sale of these insects.