A Great Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa aruana) robbing nectar from a flower of Gardenia pyriformis. Because the floral tube is too long for the bee to reach the nectar it sucks the nectar out from a hole it makes in the side at the base of the tube. It is called robbing because the bee provides no pollination service to the flowers in return for the nectar.


Photographed at Boodjamulla NP, Queensland.