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Cuckoo bees
Some bee species do not make their own
nests. Instead, they look for nests of other, often closely related bees, and
lay their eggs into them. As their behaviour is similar to that of the
cuckoos, they are known as cuckoo bees. Every species lives like a parasite
only in the nest of a single or few hosts at the most. Their larva hatches
before the host's, kills it and then feeds on the prepared supplies of food
in the cell. Bees of the genus Sphecodes, on the other hand, destroy
the host's egg already during their visit of its nest. The genus Nomada
has the highest number of cuckoo bee species, which are very similar to
wasps. They fly low above the ground, searching for places where their
victims could possibly have built their nests. |
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Coelioxys polycentris has a sharp pointed abdomen, which enables it to pierce the wall of
the host's nest during egg-laying. |
Pasites maculatus cuckoo bees live like parasites in the nests of mining bees. |
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Nomada mutica
looks very much like wasp. |
An uninvited guest in the nests of Anthophora
bees is the bee Melecta luctuosa. |
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Slovenian
Museum of Natural History
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