Hesperocolletes douglasi Michener, 1965:75
Douglas’s broad-headed bee, Rottnest (Island) bee, Native douglasi colletine [used by Walker, 2010]
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
For keys to Australian members of the family Colletidae, including Hesperocolletes, see (Michener, 2000, 2007; Houston, 2018a)
Conservation Status
Last record: 9-12 November 1938 (Dr. Terry Houston, pers. comm. 31 March 2014; Pille Arnold et al., 2019 [as November 1938])
Rediscovered on: 8 October 2015 (Pille Arnold et al., 2019)
This species was only known from a single specimen (a male) collected on Rottnest Island, off the coast of Western Australia, sometime between 9-12 November 1938 (Dr. Terry Houston, pers. comm. 31 March 2014). According to Michener (2000, 2007), the true type locality may be somewhere else within Western Australia. However, Dr. Houston finds no reason to doubt the veracity of the specimen label (pers. comm., 31 March 2014).
I initially contacted the WA Museum's curator of entomology, Dr. Nikolai (Nik) Tatarnic on 15 March 2014, enquiring about the possibility of a publicity campaign for the species. He forwarded my enquiry on to the former curator, Dr. Terry Houston, an expert in native Australian bees, who subsequently took photos of the male type specimen and produced an information sheet that was published on the WA Museum's website (Houston, 2014b).
PhD Candidate student Juliana Pille Arnold collected a female colletid bee on 8 October 2015 from c.15km west of Muchea (Pille Arnold et al., 2019). It was tentatively identified by her colleague Mark Murphy as being H. douglasi based upon the information sheet (Dr. Terry Houston, pers. comm. 17 September 2018), and was subsequently expertly identified as H. douglasi by Dr. Houston, former Curator of Entomology, Western Australian Museum. However, a subsequent visit to the collection site (remnant Banksia woodland) by Dr. Houston did not reveal any further specimens. More surveys, including at other localities, are planned for the future. Unfortunately, the telecommunications company Telstra has been granted a clearing permit a mere 3.5km from the site of the 2015 rediscovery, and within the same pristine Banksia woodland (DWER, 2020). Another clearing permit has been granted to the City of Wanneroo, that is 9.6km away and in allegedly degraded habitat (DWER, 2021).
Distribution & Habitat
Muchea (c.15km west of Township) & Rottnest Island, Western Australia, Australia
Type locality: Rottnest Island
Type locality (historical)
Rottnest Island is now a major tourist destination due to the native Quokka (Setonix brachyurus) population. As such major development has significantly reduced the suitable habitat for the species on the island (Burbidge, 2003, 2004). Furthermore, targeted searches on the island and nearby Garden Island failed to relocate the species (Pille Arnold et al., 2019). It is therefore probably extinct at the type locality.
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Holotype: WAM 38-2607 (male) (Dr. Terry Houston, pers. comm. 31 March 2014)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Michener, Charles Duncan. (1965). A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific regions. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 130: 1-362.
Other references:
Burbidge, Andrew A. (2003). Threatened invertebrates—our forgotten biodiversity. Landscope 19(2): 56-61. ["striking changes in Rottnest Island's vegetation since European settlement, for instance, probably caused the extinction of the Rottnest bee (Hesperocolletes douglasi)" (p. 57)]
Burbidge, Andrew A. (2004). Threatened animals of Western Australia. Department of Conservation and Land Management. pp. 145. ["The change in vegetation probably eliminated the food plants on which the native bee depended."]
Commonwealth of Australia. (2019). Amendment to the lists of threatened species, threatened ecological communities and key threatening processes under sections 178, 181 and 183 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (213). F2019L00955. Canberra: Federal Register of Legislative Instruments. https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2019L00955. In effect under the EPBC Act from 04-Jul-2019.
DEC. (2011). "Western Australia's invertebrates". Available online: http://www.dec.wa.gov.au [Accessed 9 May 2011]
Department of Conservation and Land Management. (1994). Wildlife Conservation (Protected Invertebrate Fauna) Notice 1994. Western Australian Gazette 45: 1464-1467.
Department of the Environment. (2025). Hesperocolletes douglasi in Species Profile and Threats Database, Department of the Environment, Canberra. Available from: https://www.environment.gov.au/sprat. Accessed Sat, 9 Aug 2025 18:20:13 +1000.
DWER (Department of Water and Environmental Regulation). (2020). Clearing Permit CPS 8987/1 issued to Telstra Corporation Limited by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation under the Environmental Protection Act 1986, section 51E, on 11-12-2020. Available at: https://ftp.dwer.wa.gov.au/permit/8987/Permit/CPS%208987-1%20-%20Purpose%20Permit%20with%20Plan%20and%20Decision%20Report.pdf [Accessed 9 August 2025]
DWER (Department of Water and Environmental Regulation). (2021). Clearing Permit CPS 9267/1 issued to City of Wanneroo by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation under the Environmental Protection Act 1986, section 51E, on 30-6-2021. Available at: https://ftp.dwer.wa.gov.au/permit/9267/Permit/CPS%209267-1%20-%20Purpose%20Permit%20and%20Decision%20Report.pdf [Accessed 9 August 2025]
Houston, Terry F. (1991). Proposed addition deletion or change to the schedule of declared threatened or specially protected fauna or the reserve list. Hesperocolletes douglasi Michener (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Colletidae – short-tongued bees). Department of Conservation and Land Management, Perth.
Houston, Dr. Terry F. (2014a). Personal communication date 31 March 2014, former Curator of Entomology, Western Australian Museum.
Houston, Terry F. (2014b). Native Bee – Presumed Extinct (Hesperocolletes douglasi Michener). WA Museum website, available from: https://museum.wa.gov.au/research/collections/terrestrial-zoology/entomology-insect-collection/entomology-factsheets/native-bee-presumed-extinct [html version] and https://museum.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/Native%20Bee%20-%20Presumed%20Extinct_Hesperocolletes%20douglasi.pdf [PDF version]
Houston, Terry F. (2018a). A guide to native bees of Australia. Clayton South, VIC: CSIRO Publishing. 280 pp.
Houston, Dr. Terry F. (2018b). Personal communication date 17 September 2018, former Curator of Entomology, Western Australian Museum.
Invertebrate Solutions. (2021). Desktop review and risk assessment of short range endemic and conservation significant invertebrates for the Byford Rail Extension Project, Western Australia (Report Number 2020ISJ1701_F04_20210408). Unpublished report to Public Transport Authority, April 2021.
Michener, Charles Duncan. (2000). Bees of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press. 913 pp.
Michener, Charles Duncan. (2007). The Bees of the World. Second Edition. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. xvi + 953 pp.
Pille Arnold, J., M.V. Murphy, R.K. Didham & Terry F. Houston (2019). Rediscovery of the ‘extinct’ bee Hesperocolletes douglasi Michener, 1965 (Colletidae: Colletinae: Paracolletini) in Western Australia and first description of the female. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(3): 13310-13319.
Species and Communities Branch (nominator). (2018). Threatened species nomination form (version 2018): Hesperocolletes douglasi (Douglas’s broad-headed bee). For nomination to the WA Threatened Species Scientific Committee. Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Perth, WA.
Taylor, G. S., Braby, M. F., Moir, M. L. et al. (2018). Strategic national approach for improving the conservation management of insects and allied invertebrates in Australia. Austral Entomology 57: 124-149.
Threatened Species Scientific Committee. (2019). Conservation Advice Hesperocolletes douglasi (Douglas' Broad-headed Bee). Canberra: Department of the Environment and Energy. Available from: http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/66734-conservation-advice-04072019.pdf. In effect under the EPBC Act from 04-Jul-2019.
Walker, K. (2010). Native douglasi colletine (Hesperocolletes douglasi) Pest and Diseases Image Library. Updated on 7/3/2010 11:01:43 PM. Available online: http://www.padil.gov.au
Ward, Michelle et al. (2025). Half of the habitat of Australia's highly imperilled narrow-range species is outside protected areas. Biological Conservation 308: 111195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2025.111195
http://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/13756/hesperocolletes-douglasi
https://www.communitynews.com.au/wanneroo-times/news/extinct-bee-found-in-pinjar-bushland/