Western Australia's Dawson's Burrowing Bees (Amegilla dawsoni) have been captured in stunning detail by David Attenborough in the Insects episode of his BBC Life documentary.
A female Dawson's Burrowing Bee peeking out of her nest burrow.
Photograph courtesy of Dr Terry Houston, Western Australian Museum
These incredible bees nest by their thousands in mud flats in remote areas of Western Australia. The males engage in ferocious battles for the chance to mate with young female bees as they first emerge from their nest burrows.
In the Life documentary, recently aired on ABC TV, David Attenborough showed graphic footage of the battles of the males and amazing close ups of the nesting behaviour of the females.
A video clip, photographs and summary of the Dawson's Bee segment are presented on the BBC Earth News website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8354000/8354788.stm
