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Neolarra Orbiculata
''Neolarra'' is a genus of cuckoo bees in the family Apidae. There are about 16 described species in ''Neolarra'', all from North America. Description Smaller than a grain of rice, these bees lay eggs in the nests of ''Perdita (bee), Perdita'' bees; the ''Neolarra'' egg hatches and the larva eats the egg and food store intended for a ''Perdita'' larva. It enters while the host bee is gone to avoid detection. Species These 16 species belong to the genus ''Neolarra'': * ''Neolarra alba'' Cockerell, 1916 * ''Neolarra alexanderi'' Griswold & Parker, 1999 * ''Neolarra batrae'' Shanks, 1978 * ''Neolarra californica'' Michener, 1939 * ''Neolarra clavigera'' Shanks, 1978 * ''Neolarra cockerelli'' (Crawford, 1916) * ''Neolarra hurdi'' Shanks, 1978 * ''Neolarra linsleyi'' Michener, 1939 * ''Neolarra orbiculata'' Shanks, 1978 * ''Neolarra penicula'' Shanks, 1978 * ''Neolarra pruinosa'' Ashmead, 1890 * ''Neolarra rozeni'' Shanks, 1978 * ''Neolarra ute'' Griswold & Parker, 1999 * ''Neolarra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuckoo Bee
The term cuckoo bee is used for a variety of different bee lineages which have evolved the kleptoparasitism, kleptoparasitic behaviour of laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, reminiscent of the behavior of cuckoo birds. The name is perhaps best applied to the apidae, apid subfamily Nomadinae, but is commonly used in Europe to mean bumblebees ''List of bumblebee species, Bombus'' subgenus ''Psithyrus''. Females of cuckoo bees are easy to recognize in almost all cases, as they lack pollen collecting structures (the scopa (biology), scopa) and do not construct their own nests. They often have reduced body hair, abnormally thick and/or heavily sculptured exoskeleton, and saber-like mandible (insect), mandibles, although this is not universally true; other less visible changes are also common. They typically enter the nests of pollen-collecting species, and lay their eggs in cells provisioned by the host bee. When the cuckoo bee larva hatches it consumes the host larva's pollen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |