For some time, I have noticed that some bees have a light colored spot on their thorax. Is it a disease? Some sort of phenotypical variation?
Today I saw several such bees, so I caught one on camera (not film anymore- on pixel?). Getting this photo almost made me feel like a National Geographic wildlife photographer. I had to wait nearly 5 minutes and took several shots.
You can see the light streak on the bee's thorax. Note, also, the light-colored pollen on her hind legs.
The answer: the bee's middle legs have a "blind spot" where they cannot reach to groom. I remembered having read about this in The Biology of the Honey Bee by Mark Winston, p.23
I presume that this forager had visited a eucalyptus tree.