Never in my wildest dreams

I think people (as in the general public) think I'm a bit weird. I know people (as in those who know me) KNOW I'm a bit weird.

Anyway, we were at the Open Garden today - Sheringa in the Adelaide Hills - which we have been to before. It's notable in my mind because last time we went there I fell A over T and broke one of their solar path lights. Sorry, I digress.

I knew that their garden was host to a lot of buglets. Last time, we saw dozens of beautiful little Reed Bees, as well as the famous Blue Banded Bees. This trip I really wanted to get a good image of a Reed Bee, with the sun shining through its little golden abdomen. They are really stunning. I succeeded in that mission, and the only reason I haven't blipped it is because I saw one of these. Thyreus nitidulus, commonly known as the neon cuckoo bee. It's a parasitic bee of the genus Thyreus.

The female neon cuckoo bee seeks out the burrow nests of the blue-banded bee (Amegilla cingulata), and lays an egg into a partly completed brood cell while it is unguarded. The larval cuckoo bee then consumes the larder and later emerges from the cell.

How about that then!! And to refer back to my very first sentence, most strangers who saw me being practically orgasmic at the sight of this amazing bee clearly thought I was a genuine nutter.

Oh, and yes it really is this startling bright blue.

A brighter, bluer bee.