Citizen scientists add needed buzz to bee research

Nature enthusiasts: Girinandhini and Lim helped add two more species of bees to Singapore’s records: the Buttel-Reepen’s resin bee (top right) and the Singed nomad bee. — The Straits Times/ANN

WHILE working at the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve’s visitor centre in 2021, Girinandhini Govindharaju found a dead black bee lying on a dusty tripod.

The species looked unfamiliar to Girinandhini, who was on a three-year contract with the National Parks Board (NParks) then. After consulting bee expert and NParks deputy director Zestin Soh, she learnt it was a female Buttel-Reepen’s resin bee, not recorded in Singapore before. A male version of the resin bee was last sighted in 2012.