Blue banded bee (Amegilla sp.) pollinating a desert asclepiad flower (Calotropis sp.). As the bee sucks nectar from the flower, its legs and abdomen rubs against the stamen - picking up grains of pollen. Each pollen grain contains a male gamete which, when deposited on another plant of the same species, can fertilise an ovule and produce seeds. The blue banded bee is a solitary insect which is native to Australia.