Cook's Wasp Bee (Hyleoides concinna)

About 18mm long and slow-flying this one was resting temporarily in some narrow-leafed ti-tree species (Leptospermum sp?) within a local nature reserve.
Yet another spectacular creature discovered during James Cook's 1770 world voyage which has impressed (and confounded) biologists ever since.
To make their brood cells these bees utilise bore holes created by other creatures (like longicorn beetles and cossid moths) and spin a curtain doorway that has a slit in the centre.