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Cuckoo bees

Chidananda.RPALB-4098

cuckoo bumblebees belongs to separate genus (Psithyrus) because of their distinctive appearance and their behaviour as parasites in the colonies of other bumblebees.

In recent days - bumblebees belong to a single genus, Bombus, with Psithyrus as a subgenus.

Cuckoo bees are similar in appearance to bumblebees, but they have a softer ‘buzz’, indeed Psithyrus means ‘murmuring’ as opposed to ‘Bombus’, which means ‘booming’.

lack of pollen baskets on the legs sparser coat of hairs, through which the

shiny black cuticle can easily be seen.

SizeFemale length: 20-24 mm Male length: 15-19 mm

Physical characteristics shared by many or most parasitic bees (depending upon the characteristic) include

1) absence of scopa or corbiculum.2) reduced pilosity3) scale-like pubescence on some part of the

body4) reduction or absence of basitibial plate.

5) apical attenuation and specialization of abdomen

6) strong, carinate, coarsely punctate exoskeleton

7) bright or contrasting color pattern8) large (or at least unusually sharp)

mandibles inone or more early larval instars9) unusual mobility of early larval instars.

The term cuckoo bee is used for a variety of different bee lineages which have evolved the kleptoparasitic behaviour of laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, reminiscent of the behavior of cuckoo birds.

subfamily Nomadinae

How to identify females?Females of cuckoo bees - lack pollen

collecting structures (the scopa) and do not construct their own nests.

Reduced body hair, abnormally thick and/or heavily sculptured

exoskeleton, saber-like mandibles,

They typically enter the nests of pollen-collecting species, and lay their eggs in cells provisioned by the host bee.

the cuckoo bee larva hatches it consumes the host larva's pollen ball.

Also kills and eats the host larva.

In zoology this way of making a living is known as inquilinism (Latin inquilinus, meaning “lodger”), and in bees it is surprisingly common.

Several thousand species of bee follow this way of life.

"Cuckoo Bee" Parasite of the Squash Bee,Xenoglossa strenua (Hymenoptera:Apoidea)characteristic color pattern on the first two

metasomaltergites and the longitudinal pale marks on the mesonotum distinguish it from other species in the genus.

Deposits the egg in the cell wall. But with no cavity or other sign leading to it is a mystery.

cylindrical hole just accommodating the egg had been made from the inside of the X. strenua cell before oviposition took place.

The adult female of this and other species of TriepeolusFemales have a pair of long hooklet· hearing arms of

the sixth metasomal sternum flanking the sting.

These arms must be used in the oviposition process

Xenoglossa strenua

SURVEY OF PARASITIC BEESApproximately 15 percent of the 4,000 to

5,000 species of bees in America north of Mexico are parasitic. If the same ratio holds in other parts of the world, there should be a total of about 3,700 parasitic species.

Of the nine families of bees, four are known to include parasitic species. Of the 115 genera of bees in America north of Mexico, 30 are exclusively parasitic.

Honey bees Stingless Bees (Meliponinae) Bumble Bees (Bombus and PsithyrusEuglossine Bees Allodopine BeesHalictine BeesParasitic Megachilidae

Coelioxys (Megachilini)Parasitic AnthidiinesMelectine and Ericrocine BeesNomadine BeesProtepeoline Bee

HONEY BEES (APIS)The common honey bee (A pis mellifera L.) is

a notorious robber of honey f bee colonies and occasionally from other apid species.

It usually robs during periods. Df poor natural forage, and sometimes populous colonies completely "rob-out" the stores of weaker ones, leaving them to starve.

STINGLESS BEES (MELIPONINAE)The genus Lestrimelitta, includingtwo Neotropical and one Ethiopian species, is

an Dbligatory robber,apparently unable to Dbtain food stores

directly from floweNeetropical species, Lestrimelitta limao (F.

Smith), usually confines its attack to' twO' subgenera of stingless bees, and the African species, L. cubiceps attacks only ene host species.

Lestrimelitta- once they invade kills and drive off the defending guards and establish their own guards to' prevent defending bees from reentering.

Parasitic megachilidaeAn unrelated species, Osmia californica

Cresson, began using the lignaria nest.Coelioxys, with rare exceptions, attacks

Megachile, another genus in the same tribe.-inserts eggs into the sealed host cell.

PARASITIC ANTHIDIINESAnthidiini is the only other megachilid tribe

known to have parasitic representatives.Two parasitic groups (Dioxys and the Stelis).

Both groups are parasites of other megachilids. with. the exception of a Stelis (subgenus Odontostelis) that parasitizes Euglossa (Bennett, 1966).

Dioxys lays its eggs on or near that of its host on tep of the pollen mass. larva uses its sharp mandibles to kill the host egg.

Stelis sp the egg is often buried in the host's food mass.attack is similar to Dioxys sp.

EUGLOSSINE BEESresemble bumble bees in many details of nest

construction and life history.Eulaema is parasitized by a beautiful metallic

green and blue euglossine, Exaraetae.

ALLODOPINE BEESAllodapula praesumptiosa is thought to be

parasitic on the basis of its morphological resemblance to A. associata. Some of the morphological similarities may represent modifications for a parasitic existence.

HALICTINE BEESThis is a very large group of soil burrowing

bees, most of which form sHalictus scabiosae Although this species

usually constructs, provisions, and lays eggs in its own nests,mall colonies. found that it often invades the nests of anothe'r halictine, Evylaeus marginatus (Knerer and Plateaux-Quenu 1967)

drives out or kills the original halictid bees and takes over the nest, building and provisioning cells in the usual manner.

Paralictus, like Sphecodes, is a halictine bee parasitic on halictines.

Examples Sphecodes (parasitic primarily on halictines) Odontostelis (parasitic on euglossines)

destroy the host eggs or young larvae before ovipositing.

Psithyrus parasitic on bumble bees.Lestrimelilta, a parasite of stingless bees,

robs food stores and building materials from its host species,

Coelioxys rufitarsis, which parasitize the nests of a common leafcutting bee, Megachile perihirta. The female Coelioxys rufitarsis flies low over the ground in search of a nest of Megachile perihirta, then waits outside for her to leave so she can enter and lay her own egg inside. 

Holcopasites heliopsis is a cuckoo bee – an egg-munching, larva-killing parasite of the nests of other bees.

Parasitic genera usually attack only one host genus or a few closely related ones. Nomada and Triepeolus are outstanding exceptions.

A female cuckoo bee, Coelioxys rufitarsis. Epeolus minimus, a cuckoo bee

Xeromelecta californica on Aster x frikartii.A female cuckoo bee, Melecta separata callura

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