#infaunative

Starting off with a personal favourite, we have the cloak-and-dagger bees, genus Thyreus! I'd love to say they're my favourites because they're exceptionally interesting but it is mainly because I find them very cute and beautiful :3 I am not immune. Thyreus histrionicus (David Marquina Reyes) and Thyreus himalayensis (marcelfinlay on iNaturalist)

They are kleptoparasites, meaning that they lay their eggs in other bees' nests so their larvae can feed on pollen collected for the host's larvae, much like a cuckoo (lending various kleptoparasitic bees the title of cuckoo bees). They also often kill and eat their new nestmates.

One of my favourite things about them is their roosting behaviour. They sleep attached to twigs or dead plants by the mandibles! This isn't exclusive to the genus, many solitary bees sleep this way, particularly males. Here, two histrionic cloak-and-dagger bees can be seen roosting alongside some white-banded digger bees, Amegilla quadrifasciata (a species that they parasitise!). Image by David Marquina Reyes

And here is an articulated nomad bee (Nomada articulata, another cuckoo bee) doing the same! Image by jerremie on iNaturalist