WELSHMAN FOUND GIANT BEE

Found in Indonesia, Wallace’s Giant Bee, Megachile pluto, is by far the largest surviving member of the bee family. Megachile has a wingspan of around 63.5 mm (or 2.5″ in old money).

Tangentally interesting though is the source of the name, “Wallace’s Giant Bee” which hints at a local connection, or at least to South Wales.

Born in humble origins in Monmouth, Alfred Russel Wallace was a Victorian explorer, amateur zoologist, (and species collector for the Natural History Museum), who many feel was unfairly beaten to the punch on evolutionary theory by Charles Darwin – who doesn’t come out of the story particularly well.

Educated and well off, compared to Wallace, Darwin was startled by his correspondence, which reflected similar ideas and based on his observations in the wild. In response, Darwin, rushed to publish the Origin of Species leaving Wallace to become a footnote in history.

Darwin is, of course, now celebrated as the originator of the theory of evolution by natural selection, while Wallace is remembered by the hundreds of Species that he catalogued during his expeditions. If you visit the National Botanic Garden of Wales, you’ll find a garden and statue dedicated to Wallace. He deserves more.

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