Wallace’s giant bee (Megachile pluto) was documented alive in Indonesia’s North Moluccas in January 2019, after decades without widely cited scientific field observations. The discovery showed that the bee still survived in the wild; it did not show that its population had recovered or that it was safe from extinction.
Which giant bee was found, and where?
The bee is Wallace’s giant bee, Megachile pluto, a resin bee found in the North Moluccas of Indonesia. Alfred Russel Wallace collected the species on Bacan in 1858. The Natural History Museum says it was not officially recorded alive by scientists again until Adam Messer’s observations in 1981. In January 2019, a team searching for five days found and photographed one living female in an arboreal, or tree-dwelling, termite nest. The discovery was announced on February 21, 2019. Natural History Museum; Re:wild
“Feared extinct” describes the concern prompted by the long gap in records. The bee had not been confirmed extinct before the 2019 find; the evidence established that at least one individual remained alive in the wild.
Why is Wallace’s giant bee remarkable?
Its size
Guinness World Records lists M. pluto as the largest bee. It gives female total length of up to 4.5 cm (1.7 in), including the mandibles, and wingspan of up to 6 cm (2.3 in). Re:wild’s 2019 announcement estimated the rediscovered female’s wingspan at 2.5 inches. These are differently attributed figures, not one exact measurement: body length and wingspan are separate dimensions, and the wingspan estimates differ.
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Its unusual nesting arrangement
Females nest inside active termite mounds in trees. They carry tree resin with their large mandibles and use it to line nest tunnels and chambers, helping keep termites out. Messer’s earlier observations found nests with as many as six females and 22 developing larvae, but many termite mounds he examined held no bees. Those observations suggest the bee was locally uncommon in the places observed; they do not establish a population estimate.
Wallace described the female as “a large black wasp-like insect, with immense jaws like a stag-beetle,” as quoted by the Natural History Museum.
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Does the rediscovery mean the species has recovered?
No. Finding one living female confirmed survival at that location in 2019, not population recovery. The available accounts do not establish how many Wallace’s giant bees remain, whether they still occur across all historically reported islands, or whether their numbers are rising. The bee’s ecology and exact present-day distribution are also poorly understood.
The accounts associate the species with primary forest, including primary lowland forest that provides resin sources and tree-dwelling termite nests. They also identify forest loss and specimen collecting as concerns. Re:wild attributed a national statistic to Global Forest Watch: Indonesia lost 15 percent of its tree cover between 2001 and 2017. That figure applies to Indonesia as a whole; it is not a measurement of habitat loss in the bee’s range.
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The 2019 accounts also discussed legal protection and trade rules at that time. They do not establish what Indonesian or international protections apply today, so those claims should not be treated as a statement of current law.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What remains unknown?
- Population size and trend: No population estimate or trend is established by the documented rediscovery.
- Current distribution: The evidence does not show whether the bee persists on every historically reported island or define its full present-day range.
- Habitat condition within its range: The national forest-loss statistic does not measure local change in the species’ habitat.
- Current conservation and trade rules: The cited accounts discuss rules as described in 2019, not their present status.
As Princeton University entomologist Eli Wyman put it, “I hope this rediscovery will spark future research that will give us a deeper understanding of the life history of this very unique bee and inform any future efforts to protect it from extinction.”
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