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The Freeloaders - amazing insects that take advantage of
solitary bees Click on the photos to see more of each insect |
| Why build your own nest and go to all that trouble provisioning it for your offspring, when you can just muscle in on another insect's efforts? Well, of course in nature no creature escapes the attention of a bunch of 'freeloaders', looking to take advantage of them. Solitary bees are no exception. There are a host of insects that take advantage of the bees efforts. Most of them are pretty amazing too, so it's fine to just sit back and watch out for what comes along........ |
 Above - an ichneumon wasp has drilled into the nest cells of a leafcutter bee and is busy laying eggs into the cell |
On this page we show you some of the visitors to the nests of solitary bees. |
The fly that looks like a
bee - the Bee-Fly The
bee fly is a superb bee mimic. It hovers low over the ground, flicking
eggs around the nest entrances of mining bees, such as Andrena,
Colletes and Halictus. These eggs hatch very quickly into
active larvae, which enter the mining bees nests. The fly larvae eats the
bee larvae and its stored food.
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A jewel amongst wasps -
the Ruby Tailed-Wasp Surely one of the most beautiful of British insects, wasps of the genus Chrysis
sparkle in sun-light. There colours are a range of iridescent greens, blues, copper and
red. Cuckoo-wasps lay eggs in the cells of solitary bees. Whilst the
host bee is away she nips in and lays an egg in the incomplete cell. Should
the bee return whilst the cuckoo-wasp is still present, the cuckoo wasp
curls up into a tight ball. Its very tough 'skin' protects it from the bees
attempts to kill it. The cuckoo-wasp larvae eats the bee larvae and then consumes the store laid
up by the host bee. |
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Gasteruption - the
drilling wasp
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To see many superb photographs of fabulously coloured ruby-tailed wasps click on this link: |
Sapyga quinquepunctata
This is another wasp parasite of Mason Bees. Its larvae sucks on the bee egg, then eats the stored food. |
