A scientist in Australia discovered a new species of native bee, which she named Lucifer because it has horns. Many things are unknown about native bees, and it’s unclear what purpose the horns serve.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

A number of years ago, in a remote part of Western Australia, a researcher discovered a new species of bee. Now it’s being introduced to the world. One thing that makes this newcomer unique is that it has horns. For that, it has been named Lucifer. NPR’s Katia Riddle reports.

KATIA RIDDLE, BYLINE: Bee researcher and scientist Kit Prendergast stumbled onto this discovery when she was out collecting samples one day. She says it took her eight hours to get to this far-flung part of the country.

KIT PRENDERGAST: It’s this beautiful, remote region, you know, typical of Australia.

RIDDLE: She remembers bending over a small flower to collect it. Prendergast is an expert in native bees. She says it’s important to understand the role they play in the ecosystem. Many are endangered. She says without knowing which native bees exist and what plants they depend on, we risk losing both before we even know they are there. That’s why she came to this remote location.

PRENDERGAST: I’ve never seen so many native bees, wasps and flies, just, like, going in your nose and your eyes and your mouth and your ears.

RIDDLE: She’s seen hundreds of different species. They’re diverse, and many are still unknown. The one that caught her eye that day had a very distinctive feature she’d never seen before – horns, only in the females.

PRENDERGAST: I thought it was cool that the female had horns because in most animals, the males are the ones with horns or ornamentation.

RIDDLE: She published her findings recently in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research. When a taxonomist identifies a new species, they get to name it, including the genus name. This one is called Megachile lucifer.

PRENDERGAST: So yeah, like, girl power (laughter) to the Megachile lucifer.

RIDDLE: It’s not clear what purpose the horns serve, she says.

PRENDERGAST: It could be related to nest defense or gathering pollen, but further, you know, observations of the females at the nests are required.

RIDDLE: Other names she considered – Shakira, since she loves the singer, or after her cat, Pickles.

PRENDERGAST: I was like, oh, I could call it, like, Megachile pickles. Or it’s got the horns, I could call it Megachile horny pickles.

RIDDLE: In the end, she says, Lucifer won out.

PRENDERGAST: Lucifer, let’s go with Lucifer.

RIDDLE: Aside from the reference to the devil, she says, the name Lucifer has a Latin translation – bringer of light. She hopes this Lucifer will bring light to the urgency of studying native bees while we still can. Katia Riddle, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ISAAC STERN, FRANZ WAXMAN & SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’S PERFORMANCE OF RIMSKY-KORSAKOV’S “FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE”)

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.