In short, the Aussie bees got more done than the bumblebees, in less time.
Researchers said such behavior in a bee had never before been documented.
"We were absolutely surprised. We were so buried in the science of it, we never thought about something like this. This is something totally new," said University of Adelaide bee specialist Katja Hogendoorn.
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Bumblebees are normally top-notch tomato-plant pollinators, but mainland Australia lacks the chubby little fliers. Instead, they mechanically pollinate their tomatoes Down Under.
Hogendoorn said past research had already shown that blue-banded bees were able pollinators of greenhouse tomatoes and that this discovery ups the ante.
"This new finding suggests that blue-banded bees could also be very efficient pollinators -- needing fewer bees per hectare," Hogendoom said.
The researchers said their work could help improve crop pollination efficiency and may also have applications for miniature aerial robots. Their findings will be published in an upcoming edition of the print journal Arthropod-Plant Interactions.