The two rare insects were spotted by a biology student at the University of Wrocław on the trunk of a felled lime tree.
Posting on social media, the university’s Professor Marcin Kadej from the Department of Biology said: “The black-horned squirrel beetle is a strictly protected species in Poland.
“This insect is very rare in the country... but our scientists have discovered a new site of this species. Where? - In Lower Silesia, or more precisely in Wrocław, or even more precisely on our campus.”
Black bees, whose characteristic features are a shiny black body and purple-tinted wings, are a solitary species which means that they do not live in colonies or beehives.
Instead they live in nests which they burrow in dead tree barks, which is why they are sometimes referred to as a carpenter bee.
Although black bees do not make honey or wax, they still play an important ecological role pollinating as many as 30 species of trees and flowers such as cherry and plum trees or meadow sage.
