A scientist has discovered a new species bee in Australia. The bee has tiny horns its head. The scientist is bee ecologist Dr Kit Prendergast. She gave the bee the Latin name Megachile lucifer. "Lucifer" is another name the Devil. Dr Prendergast found the bee while she was doing a survey an endangered wildflower the city of Perth, Western Australia. She told the "Perth Now" news agency that she gave the bee its name because its horns. She said: "These horns are very distinct and devilish. I wanted to call it a devil-like name and so I decided Lucifer." She added: "Lucifer means 'light bringer' Latin. I want to bring light to issues the lack of conservation native bees."
Australia is home to more than 2,000 species native bees. The newly-described bee is one hundreds the country that have not been named. Dr Prendergast said: "[There are] many native bees that have evolved Australia. We don't even know the names them. They haven't been described. We don't know their distribution or where they nest." The Lucifer bee is "the first new member this bee group to be described more than 20 years". She added that there is a lot "life we still have to discover". Prendergast is worried that the endangered wildflower and the new bee "could be risk from habitat disturbance and other threatening processes climate change".
