#thyreus nitidulus

Neon Cuckoo Bee - Thyreus nitidulus

Ромик - неоновая пчела-кукушка. :D

A striking Neon cuckoo bee, Thyreus nitidulus (Hymenoptera - Apidae) photographed in Chiangmai, Thailand.

These beauties with glittering metallic blue and black bands are cleptoparasitic in the nest of the Blue-banded bee Amegilla sp. 

Neon Cuckoo Bee female does not make its own nest. It lays egg in the nest of Blue-banded bee. Female places an egg in a partially completed brood cell. After the Blue-banded bee finishes provision and seals the brood cell, the cuckoo bee egg hatches into larvae and feeds on the provisions stored by Blue-banded bee [1].

For my sister’s birthday I painted her a bee as well. (I’m poor, so everyone gets drawings from me as presents and bees are my current fascination.) This lovely fellow is Thyreus nitidulus, the Neon Cuckoo Bee or Cloak and Dagger Bee. It’s another Australian native that’s parasitic to the Blue Banded Bee (Amegilla cingulata). The females of this species lay their eggs in the burrows of Amegilla and when they hatch I believe they devour the Amegilla brood as well as the accumulated pollen stores, hence the “Cloak and Dagger” epithet.

NEON CUCKOO BEE (Thyreus nitidulus) ©Erica Siegel

Like all bees, the neon cuckoo bee is covered by furry branched flattened hair, which is responsible for both the black and blue colours. Pale blue hair covers much of the face  as well as patches on the sides of the thorax and the legs. The abdomen is striped with bright blue and black, and the transparent wings are purple-tinged brown in colour. The bee is sturdy in build, with a reinforced thorax.

Stunningly beautiful, with glittering metallic blue spots, these bees prey on the nests of blue banded bees. They lay an egg in the burrow of blue-banded bee and other bees in the Amegilla genus. The cuckoo's egg hatches before the host's egg and the larva eats all the stockpiled food, pupates and then does a runner. Sadly, the host's offspring are left behind with nothing to eat and perish rather quickly.

Fact Source: photobitz

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