The World Has a New Bee, and It's Got Horns

Australian scientists have identified a new bee species with an odd trait: It has devil-like horn protrusions on its face. They're calling it Lucifer, of course. More formally, the insect is named Megachile (Hackeriapis) lucifer, reports AFP. It was discovered by Kit Prendergast of Curtin University's School of Molecular and Life Sciences during a survey of a critically endangered wildflowers in western Australia. "The female had these incredible little horns on her face," says the scientist, who happened to be watching the Netflix show Lucifer around the time of her discovery, per the BBC.

And the name isn't entirely satanic: Prendergast notes that "Lucifer" means "light bringer" in Latin, and she hopes the discovery will draw attention to the need for better bee conservation in areas affected by climate change, mining, and the like. "We may be missing undescribed species, including those that play crucial roles in supporting threatened plants and ecosystems," she says.

The research team isn't sure what purpose the horns serve, but they might help the bees dig into flowers or defend nests, per NBC News. The males don't have them. This marks the first time in more than 20 years that a new member of this particular bee group has been discovered. The findings were published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research.