Hylaeus nubilosus, or Hylaeus (Hylaeorhiza) nubilosus, is a species of bee in the family Colletidae and subfamily Hylaeinae. It is also known as the cloudy masked bee. It is native to Australia and New Guinea. It was described by English entomologist Frederick Smith in 1853.
Description Hylaeus nubilosus is a medium-sized (6–9 mm) masked bee with a conspicuous yellow thoracic badge in the middle of the scutellum and metanotum.Prendergast, Kit. (2017). Establishment of the East Australian Masked Bee Hylaeus nubilosus (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Colletidae: Hylaeinae) in Western Australia. Australian Entomologist. 44. 213–218.
Distribution and habitat The species occurs across much of southern and eastern Australia. Type localities include Melbourne and Belgrave, Victoria; Mackay and Kuranda, Queensland; and Tasmania. It has also been recorded from Lae in Papua New Guinea.
Behaviour The adults are solitary flying mellivores, with sedentary larvae. The bees prefer to nest in the abandoned nests of mud-dauber wasps such as Sphecidae and potter wasps Eumeninae. Flowering plants visited by the bees include Acacia, Angophora, Boronia, Bursaria, Callistemon, Eucalyptus, Eugenia, Jacksonia, Leptospermum, Melaleuca, Teucrium, Tristaniopsis and Xanthorrhoea species.
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