Breeding

See Sexual Behavior for courtship displays.

Copulation has not been observed.

Nests are a small cup similar to those made by other ‘bee’ species, lined on the outside with lichens and moss (Blake 1956; Hartman 1957) (see picture). “Nest a tiny cup of pale-coloured floss of thistles or other composites, grass heads, treefern scales and spider web, decorated with bits of moss and lichens, sometimes lined with small feathers, 1-4 m up on outside of large shrub or in grass tussock, often at edge of open space or on roadcut” (Stiles 1999).  Three nests contained 2 eggs each, and two clutches measured 12 × 8, 11.5 × 8; 11.5 × 8, and 11 × 8 mm (Blake 1956). Reproductive season likely begins in September (Stiles 1983); a nest with an egg found on 10 February 1956 (Hartman 1957) was likely near the end of the breeding season. A nesting female was found approx 1 m above the ground in a low bush, inside the canopy in October 2009 (picture). No direct information on incubation or fledging time available.