Topics in this Issue:

1. NEW BOOK ON STINGLESS BEEKEEPING

2. TIM HEARD'S NEW STINGLESS BEE WEBSITE

3. BEES REPEL SMALL HIVE BEETLE PESTS

4. REPORT ON OUR BIGGEST EVER NATIVE BEE EVENT

5. FULL COLOUR VERSION OF NATIVE BEE FIELD GUIDE

6. FAREWELL TO DR EXLEY: A LEADING BEE RESEARCHER

7. LEARN MORE ABOUT AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEES

8. UPCOMING NATIVE BEE EVENTS

__________________________________________________________
1. NEW BOOK ON STINGLESS BEEKEEPING

A brand new book on stingless beekeeping has just been published
with over 200 colour photographs! 'Australian Stingless Bees: A
Guide to Sugarbag Beekeeping' by John Klumpp is a valuable handbook
for anyone interested in keeping our native stingless honeybees.

This new book is now available from the 'Aussie Bee' website. The
price is just $38.50 including postage and handling within
Australia.

This 110 page paperback is an excellent companion handbook for our
ANBRC Information Booklets which many of you may already own. It
touches lightly on topics already fully covered in the ANBRC
booklets. And it presents substantial NEW MATERIAL on a range of
other topics such as buying a hive, new box designs and equipment,
identification of pests and fighting swarms.

John Klumpp is known to many as 'Klumppy' through his regular
contributions to the Yahoo ANBees native bees chat group. With his
collection of 60 stingless bee hives, John is one of Australia's
most creative stingless bee keepers.

'Australian Stingless Bees: A Guide to Sugarbag Beekeeping' would
make an ideal Christmas gift for your beekeeping family members and
friends! 

For more details or to order your copy, follow the links
from the Aussie Bee website home page or visit:
http://www.aussiebee.com.au/klumpp-book.html

Alternatively you may order a copy by posting a cheque or money
order to: ANBRC, PO Box 74, North Richmond NSW 2754. 


2. TIM HEARD'S NEW STINGLESS BEE WEBSITE

Earlier this year, Dr Tim Heard launched 'Sugarbag', his own
personal website on Australian stingless bees. It features a wealth
of information about stingless bees and some beautiful photographs
of the bees and their nests.

Tim's website provides information about sugarbag honey and wax,
including how to buy them. There are photographs of Tim's methods
of honey harvesting and a design for his honey hive. And there are
tips for handling and using wax collected from stingless bees for
purposes such as the mouthpieces of didgeridoos.

The 'Sugarbag' website also lists details of the workshops that Tim
runs in Queensland and the many articles that Tim has written on
stingless bees.

The 'Sugarbag' website can be found at: http://www.sugarbag.net

3. BEES REPEL SMALL HIVE BEETLE PESTS

Megan Halcroft of the University of Western Sydney - Hawkesbury has
discovered that our Austroplebeia stingless bees have some
surprisingly effective defences against Small Hive Beetles.

African Small Hive Beetles are serious beehive pests that were
accidentally introduced to Australia in about 2002 and are now
invading Queensland, NSW and Victoria, including areas rich in
stingless native bees. Previous studies showed that strong Trigona
hives were able to withstand the beetles' invasion. However, how
would the Austroplebeia bees cope?

Read all about Megan's discoveries and see her amazing photos of
these stingless bees on the attack! To download your copy of this
new Aussie Bee Online article, please visit:
http://www.aussiebee.com.au/abol-current.html

4. REPORT ON OUR BIGGEST EVER NATIVE BEE EVENT

Australia's biggest native bee workshop ever, held last year at the
University of Western Sydney - Hawkesbury, was a huge success!
Fifty one native bee enthusiasts and ten leading native bee
presenters gathered from six states and territories of Australia
for two days of seminars, practicals and lively discussions about
native bees.

I had intended to write an Aussie Bee Online article some time ago
on the excellent material presented at this workshop but I was
unable to do this due to serious illness in my family. However, the
article is now ready and available on the Aussie Bee website.

Check out Australia's biggest ever native bee workshop by
downloading your copy of Aussie Bee Online Article 11 from this
webpage:
http://www.aussiebee.com.au/abol-current.html


5. FULL COLOUR VERSION OF NATIVE BEE FIELD GUIDE

The print version of our popular field guide, 'Native Bees of the
Sydney Region', is now sold out and it will be some time before we
complete the next edition of this book. In the meantime, we have
released a new, full colour, updated version of 'Native Bees of the
Sydney Region' on CD!

All the photographs in this new ebook edition of the field guide
are now in full colour showing the true beauty of these native
bees. And all the scientific names have been fully updated
according to a major worldwide revision of the bees published in
2000.

The 'Native Bees of the Sydney Region' CD includes all the software
(PC and Mac) that you need to read and print out the guide on your
computer and it costs just $9.00 plus postage and handling. For
more details, please visit:
http://www.aussiebee.com.au/fieldguide.html

6. FAREWELL TO DR EXLEY: A LEADING BEE RESEARCHER

Australia lost one of its leading native bee researchers on 1st
September 2007 with the passing of Dr Elizabeth Exley, aged 79.

In her long career at the University of Queensland, Dr Exley:

-- described and named over 200 species of native bees;

-- contributed thousands of native bee specimens to the University
of Queensland Insect Collection, a major resource for native bee
researchers; and

-- trained some of Australia's key native bee scientists of today
including Tim Heard, Ken Walker, Helen Wallace, Glynn Maynard, Jo
Cardale and Judy King.

Dr Exley specialised in the native bees in the family Colletidae,
including the tiny Quasihesma bees of northern Australia. Dr
Exley's studies of the amazing 1.8 mm long Quasihesma clypearis
bees, thought to be the smallest bees in the world, were featured
in Aussie Bee Bulletin Issue 4.

Dr Elizabeth Exley will long be remembered for the major
contribution she made to our knowledge of Australian native bees.

7. LEARN MORE ABOUT AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEES

Here are the best ways to learn about Australian native bees on the
internet:

-- Aussie Bee website, packed with native bee photos and information, including fr.ee articles on the latest native bee
research in Aussie Bee Online:
http://www.aussiebee.com.au

-- Russell Zabel's informative and colourful Australian Stingless
Native Bees website -- send Russell an email to subscribe to his
email newsletter:
http://www.zabel.com.au

-- ANBees native bee discussion group on Yahoo Groups, now with 265 members -- lively native bee discussions and fantastic native bee
photos:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ANBees

-- ANBees website with a wonderful archive of native bee photos and
information shared by members of the ANBees Yahoo group:
http://www.australiannativebees.com

-- Tim Heard's new Sugarbag website for excellent information on
native bee honey and waxes -- full details in item 2:
http://www.sugarbag.net

8. UPCOMING NATIVE BEE EVENTS
QUEENSLAND
Workshops on Stingless Beekeeping
by Dr Tim Heard:
Date: 24 February 2008
Venue: Kumbartcho Sanctuary
Eatons Hill, Qld
Bookings Required: Lyndall Rosevear (07) 3480 6666

Date: 16 March 2008
Venue: Redlands IndigiScapes Centre,
Capalaba, Brisbane, Qld
Bookings Required: Craig Doolan (07) 3820 1108

Kind regards
Anne Dollin
Editor, Aussie Bee Online
Australian Native Bee Research Centre / Aussie Bee
PO Box 74, North Richmond NSW 2754, Australia
Fax: (02) 4576 1196. Email: anbrc@zeta.org.au
Promoting the Preservation and Enjoyment of Australian Native Bees
Visit our Website! http://www.aussiebee.com.au
Australian Native Bee Research Centre, PO Box 74, North Richmond, NSW 2754, AUSTRALIA

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