Amegilla zonata - Blue Banded Bee
There is a whole industry building around this bee, as it uses a special technique for certain plants, like the tomato, which cannot be pollenated by the regular bees, as the pollen is held in small capsules.
The bee grips the part of the flower with its jaws. Then it somehow switches off its wings from the muscle, and uses the vibrating muscle to nod its head, thus shaking the bloom and releasing the encapsulated pollen.
A marvelous slow motion video of the process exists, see the link below.
Location is Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. Alongside a stream and paddy fields.
''Amegilla zonata'' is a species of blue-banded bees belonging to the family Apidae, widely distributed in SE Asia, where it is often confused with the Australian species ''Amegilla cingulata''.
