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A group of scientists and insect enthusiasts has rediscovered the world's largest bee while on an expedition on a remote Indonesian island.

Dubbed "the flying bulldog", Wallace's giant bee (Magachile pluto) has a wingspan of a whopping six centimetres.

The giant bee has only ever documented twice before: when it was first discovered by naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in 1859, and then again in 1981.

With no sightings since, it was thought to be extinct.

While researching the bee's whereabouts, the University of Sydney's Simon Robson and his colleague Glen Chilton of Saint Mary's University in Canada heard of a US-based photographer and a young entomologist who were planning to go search for it.

The four insect detectives decided to pool their resources and expertise.

Early one morning in January they met in Jakarta, and scrambled for a connecting flight to the Moluccas Islands to try their luck.

"It was basically four people who had a long-term interest in this bee just got together and said, 'let's spend the money, we're going to go see if we can find it'," Dr Robson said.

"We met, we found it, we had a fantastic time, it was great! It was one of the best holidays I've ever had!"

The group searched through forest on an island in north-east Indonesia for five days in stifling tropical heat, checking termite nest after termite nest for signs of the bee.

The female bees burrow their way into termite nests to lay their eggs, leaving behind a tell-tale hole big enough to squeeze through.

"We were in the forest and it was late in the afternoon, and we were wandering off for a late lunch and one of us spotted a termite mound," Dr Robson said.

"One of us climbed up the tree and the hole was lined with resin and that was very encouraging, and we finally got the torch in there and we could see the bee in there looking out at us."

From there, they put a plastic tube over the hole in the termite nest and coaxed the bee out with a blade of grass to be photographed before releasing it.

'We were very keen to get stung by it'

The bee collects nectar to feed to its young, but doesn't produce honey like the European honeybee or some Australian natives.

And also unlike the European honeybee, it doesn't die after stinging, according to Dr Robson.

"This bee could probably sting you quite happily and then sting you again, it wouldn't kill it," he said.

"In fact, if we'd found more we were very keen to get stung by it to see how painful it was. But because we only found one we didn't want to annoy it and we didn't want to upset it."

Wallace's giant bee also has a large set of pincers called mandibles on its head, which Dr Robson said could probably "do a bit of damage".

Because the bee has only been seen a handful of times, scientists still don't know much about it.

For instance, it's possible that it may be a primary pollinator for a particular tree species in the islands where it is found, said entomologist Tim Heard, who was not involved in the discovery.

"That's quite possible, but we don't know that. We don't really know what it pollinates or if the the plant that it pollinates has an obligate relationship to that bee," said Dr Heard, an Australian bee expert at the University of Sydney.

Regardless of its ecological niche, Dr Heard said it needed protection from threats such as deforestation for palm oil, which is rife throughout Indonesia.

"I think we have a responsiblity to preserve all life on this planet," he said.

"It being the biggest bee in the world, it's rare, and it was discovered by Wallace, who was a legend in his field - he discovered evolution via natural selection along with Darwin.

"The fact that it's such a spectacular species and is such an amazing product of evolution, we have an obligation to preserve it."

Dr Robson said he and his colleagues hoped the presence of the bee in the Moluccas Islands could become a flagship for environmental conservation and ecotourism in the region.

"Deforestation is the major threat to most things and that can sometimes come into [regions] very quickly," he said.

"We may be able to get this bee in the eyes of the public as something that's worth coming to see."

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World's largest bee not seen for 38 years rediscovered on remote Indonesian island

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A group of scientists and insect enthusiasts has rediscovered the world's largest bee while on an expedition on a remote Indonesian island. Dubbed "the flying bulldog", Wallace's giant bee (Magachile pluto) has a wingspan of a whopping six centimetres.

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In this two-part special, host Paul West challenges four families to successfully keep a honeybee hive, bringing these everyday Australians up close with the latest science about bee brains, communication and behaviour.

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In this two-part special, host Paul West challenges four families to successfully keep a honeybee hive, bringing these everyday Australians up close with the latest science about bee brains, communication and behaviour.

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A HUMBLE Australian beekeeper, who used crowd-funding to revolutionise the way the world extracts honey from bee hives, made a cool $16 million.

Cedar Anderson and his father Stuart created the 'Flow Hive', which became a beekeepers' dream.

The Flow Hive consists of a plastic frame with a honeycomb matrix on which bees work to fill up each cell with honey. Once full and capped off, honey starts to flow out when a lever is turned outside the hive. The honey drains out and into a jar on the outside, leaving the bees to continue their work.

The Andersons from NSW told Australian Story they coudn't believe how popular the invention became when they launched it on the Kickstarter crowd-funding site, in order to get the product to other beekeepers and interested consumers.

Originally, they were looking to raise $US70,000 ($96,952) to buy a new tool for the factory, but the campaign went viral and they made more than $US2 million ($A2.7m) in a day.

Eight weeks later, they had raised $US12.2 million ($A16.9m) and had to make 24,000 orders to be sent to 140 countries.

Cedar's colleague Yari McGauley recalled how it unfolded.

"We overwhelmed the crowd-funding website, broke one of the biggest crowd-funding platforms in the world. We had people screaming out, 'Take our money!' People were buying, they didn't even know what they were buying. It was a frenzy. It was like a rock concert, you know? Our Facebook page was just inundated. All the product we knew we could make at our existing factory in Brisbane, we'd sold out in 15 minutes. And everyone looked around the room to each other and said, 'Well, what are we gonna do now?'"

That's when Cedar's life changed forever. He became a multi-millionaire, and a first-time dad as his wife Kylie Ezart gave birth to their first child.

While thrilled with the outcome of their business venture, Cedar and Stuart are not in it for money. Contrary to what people might think, their family members say they still drive old HiLux utes running on vegetable oil.

But Cedar said he has changed, if ever so slightly.

"Yeah, I have changed," Cedar laughed.

"The idea of having a 9am to 5pm office job was just frightening. To me, freedom is being able to do what I'm inspired to do. It's being able to work on inventions, whenever I have an idea."

He also spoke of the experience he has had so far with his father.

"It's been an amazing thing to work with my dad.

"To me, the most important thing is that that relationship stays strong. To me, I'd throw it all away if it was threatening our relationship."

"With a bit of coaching, I went and purchased my first new pair of shoes in 20 years. It was a bit of a dropping of the guard."

Cedar said the business has grown so much that his entire family is involved from "uncles to brothers, grandfather, sisters and cousins".

While Cedar admitted to feeling "stress" for the first time in his life, he said he keeps "calm and collected".

"It just hits me every now and again. I'm just like, 'Oh, my gosh! Cedar, look what you just did," he said.

"What's really important is that the bees are taken care of, because harvesting honey is only one part of a beekeepers challenges, it is taking care of the bees and making sure they are healthy. I really, really love bees," he added.

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A HUMBLE Australian beekeeper, who used crowd-funding to revolutionise the way the world extracts honey from bee hives, made a cool $16 million. Cedar Anderson and his father Stuart created the 'Flow Hive', which became a beekeepers' dream. The Flow Hive consists of a plastic frame with a honeycomb matrix on which bees work to fill up each cell with honey.