The race to save tiny bee almost no one knew existed

A tiny Fijian bee species has only just been discovered by scientists but it is already the precipice of extinction.

Scientist Tegan Edwards spent a month in Fiji battling humidity, heat and rain while wrangling a 9-metre pole with a net as she searched for a bee smaller than a grain of rice that almost no-one has heard of.

Such is the work of trying to save a creature at risk of becoming extinct before its existence is even known.

"It's a pretty common situation, especially with insects," Ms Edwards said.

"It's hard to catalogue them because they're so diverse and it's hard to see them before they go, especially in areas that are more under-studied."

The masked bee, Hylaeus navai, was first formally described in 2024.

But it is at risk of what ecologists like David Attenborough have called "silent extinction".

Researchers believe the species has suffered a 99 per cent population collapse in the last 150 years. Their findings were published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Ecology and Evolution this week.

Ms Edwards said European insects were extremely well researched, but experts still had a lot to discover about what lived on Australia's neighbours in the Pacific Islands.

That is what led her and fellow University of Wollongong (UOW) colleague James Dorey to Fiji to begin their search.

Why the species could become extinct

Dr Dorey, an evolutionary biologist, first found a single Hylaeus navai on a trip to Fiji in 2016, and then "a whole bunch more" on two visits in 2019.

He said that not only was insect was difficult, it was hard to kill it in order to correctly record and describe it.

Dr Dorey said scientific analysis indicated the bees were critically endangered.

"We see mutations in the bee's genome," he said.

"You can look at the frequency of the mutations to say something about when they arose, but also make predictions about how maybe 100 years ago the population was this size and now it's this size, and see how things have changed."

Dr Dorey said the population collapse aligned with colonisation in Fiji, which brought habitat destruction and potential pesticide use.

Along with natural events such as cyclones damaging habitats, he said another potential threat was that the bees were attracted to red flowering plants such as the African tulip, which is poisonous to a variety of bees.

'What we don't know, we can't conserve'

Bees are responsible for pollinating the plants that form a huge part of human and animal diets.

They are essential to the health, reproduction and survival of entire ecosystems.

Ms Edwards wants to find and help them before they become extinct — and for people to care, regardless of how tiny they are.

"Pollinators underpin all of our systems, so we need to look towards conserving our pollinators," she said.

"What we don't know, we can't conserve.

"So if we don't know they're there, we can't find the threats they're facing and try and help them.

"More research into the pollinators that underpin our food and medicine systems is really worthwhile."

Encouraging more local research

The research team have not revisited Fiji to check on populations of the masked bee since 2024.

"It's challenging to monitor because it takes a lot of skill and strength to wield the nets and catch them," Dr Dorey said.

"We also need people on the ground in Fiji to do the work and monitor these insects."

The UOW research into the bee has been funded by a federal government grant, which has allowed the scientists to form a partnership with the University of the South Pacific.

Dr Dorey hopes that partnership will help train Fijian students to research the rare bee year-round.