Blue banded bee wins ABC Australian Insect of the Year poll – A cute, vividly coloured native bee with a very distinctive buzz is Australia’s first Insect of the Year.
13,593 people voted in the inaugural ABC Australian Insect of the Year poll. Just over 50.1 per cent of an Australia-wide audience (6,815 votes) chose the blue-banded bee (Amegilla cingulata) from a field of six insect finalists selected by an expert panel.
The common hoverfly (Melangyna viridiceps) received the second highest number of votes with 13.0 per cent of all responses, followed by the Bogong moth (Agrotis infusa) with 11.4 per cent of the vote.
About 9.9 per cent of voters selected the golden stag beetle (Lamprima aurata), 7.9 per cent chose the Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis), while 7.7 per cent voted for the Eltham copper butterfly (Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida).
The blue-banded bee was nominated by Dr Anna Carrucan, botanist and beekeeper.
Dr Carrucan said she was hopeful the charismatic bee’s victory would translate into greater interest and awareness in all six finalists, and in native insects more generally.
“I’m delighted by the result, and I would love to thank those who voted for this bee but also those who voted for any of these finalists. They are all deserving of more interest,”
– Dr Carrucan said.
“The interest in the IOTY competition has been amazing. It shows how much people have engaged with all the nominees. It is evidence of the interest and growing awareness of our native bees and other pollinators.”
Dr Carrucan said insects and other invertebrates received comparatively little funding research compared with mammals and birds which more often capture the public imagination.
She hoped that would change as more people became aware of the crucial roles insects play in the ecosystem.
“There could be so much more research into our native insects. As is the case with so much of our ecological research, there are so many more worthwhile projects to be done than money available to fund them,”
– Dr Carrucan explained.
“I think the win by the blue-banded bee serves to highlight all other native bees and insects that are just as important to the ecosystem. It also highlights the different and important roles such as pollination, predation of pests, or decomposition of leaf litter and forest floor vegetation. These things we call ecosystem services.
“The blue banded bee is not just cute and attractive but also crucial with its special type of buzz pollination for food crops and native species. It is also emblematic of the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for all sorts of insects to encourage us to look at what our precious native insects need in terms of habitat, food and places to breed.”
The poll was conducted by abc.net.au for four weeks during October and November. About 1000 votes were also taken from overseas participants from locations including the United States, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and Indonesia.
The ABC Australian Insect of the Year announcement coincides with Australian Pollinator Week, which started on Saturday (November 9).
Museums Victoria Research Institute curator of entomology Dr Ken Walker, who was part of the ABC Insect of the Year panel and nominated the Lord Howe Island stick insect as a finalist, said he hoped the annual award would change how people think about insects.
“Shifting the public’s perception of insects from ‘creepy-crawlies’ to something of value and beauty is a huge task. Even a computer software glitch is called a ‘bug’,
– Dr Walker explained.
“Insects are the “little things that run the world”. They are the biological foundations of all our terrestrial ecosystems. Imagine a world without pollination or decomposition. Enjoy chocolate? Well, without a tiny pollinator fly there would be no such sweet treats.
“The ABC Insect of the Year competition was designed to raise the profile of insects and get people thinking about them as animals with beauty, importance and value.”
Media Release – ABC
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Blue banded bee wins ABC Australian Insect of the Year poll
