Phil Warburton, Australian Native Pollinators (ANIMAL & NATURE 2022)

These four photos are all of native pollinators. Whilst the European Honey Bee is regarded as an essential pollinator of commercial crops it is important to remember the Australian species performing a similar task. We need to understand what role these creature play as we look to reduce the risks of relying on a small number of honey bee species. I have chosen two native bees from the insect order of Hymenoptera (a Turner's Beautiful Bee, Palaeorhiza turneriana and a Domino Cuckoo Bee, Thyreus lugubris) as well as insects from the orders of Lepidoptera (a Painted Lady Butterfly, Vanessa kershawi) and Diptera (a red Drone Fly, Odyneromyia spadix). These are merely examples of the many thousands of insect species we unknowingly rely upon for pollinating our plants.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.