The world’s largest bee, named Wallace’s Bee, was thought to be extinct, as the last time it was seen was 1981. However yesterday in Indonesia, the bee was rediscovered and was found by researchers from different university from Australia, Canada, and the US.

The initial sighting of the large bee took place on January 28th.

“I almost wondered if I was imagining it,” Clay Bolt said, “We had almost given up hope that we were going to find it, so when it was looking back at me from the nest it was almost surreal.”

The bee itself was first discovered in 1858 by Alfred Russel Wallace, a British Naturalist.

It was during the last day of the five-day travel for the researchers, until they stumble upon a termite mound. At first, they don’t check out the mound due to extreme exhaustion from the Indonesian heat; however, after feeling it and looking deep into it, they rediscovered the large black bee.

“It was a moment of like ‘Okay, now we have work to do,” said Bolt. “It’s a very scary and very difficult time, but for me this says hope is still out there and all is not lost. It gives me hope that we can still save some of these species and make a difference.”

 

Image courtesy of usatoday.com