- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
His work shows a cuckoo bee (Nomada sp.) and an Anthophora bee sharing honey on a twig. The image appears as an inset for the month of September.
Wright collected the bees at his field site in Hemet Calif., the day before. "I took them to my studio to try and get some images in flight and to bolster my files of native bee species," he related. "I often feed my subjects a little honey as I photograph them over the course of a day or two before releasing them back where I found them. They also tend to offer nice shots when they sit still drinking, so I figured I would try to fit two bees on a twig that I had around, and see if they would offer a picture."
"I managed a number of nice shots of them sharing a drink before letting them go their separate ways. Once spring starts back up in full, I'm hoping to recreate this shot with a half-dozen or more native bee species all on the same branch at the same time to show off the incredible diversity of native bees in California."
"I was so thrilled to have my image accepted to the ESA calendar, which always showcases incredible arthropod images!"
This is his first image selected for the international calendar, although he's submitted a few images over the last several years. He was also honored to have one of his arthropod images selected for the cover of the fall edition of the American Entomologist.
Wright, who holds a bachelor's degree in evolution, ecology and biodiversity from UC Davis in 2008 and a master's degree in evolution, ecology and behavior at the University of Texas, Austin, in 2015, began pursuing photography as a hobby in 2008, using a single lens reflex camera. Today he specializes in macro and wildlife photography but also enjoys "photographing people and, especially, the intersection of people and science."
Wright's hobby has grown into "a passion for documenting the species and behaviors I find during field work or on my many expeditions to observe species and their habitats around the country and the globe."
You can follow Ian Wright on the Internet:
- Website: https://ianmwright.zenfolio.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ian.wright.549
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ianmwright86
- Instagram: @ianmwright86 and @tinyspheres
The World of Insects Calendar is known for its striking, world-class photography of arthropods. The 2022 calendar drew more than 740 entries from more than 180 photographers from around the globe. The cover image depicts newly hatched brown marmorated stink bug nymphs (Halyomorpha halys), photographed by Tom Astle of Sherman Oaks, Calif.
ESA seeks photos of "the highest aesthetic and technical quality," and issues a call for photos early in the year for the following year's calendar. Photographers of all backgrounds, areas of expertise, career stage, and geographic location submit photos.
This year ESA also published an "Arthropod Photo of the Week" from the submitted photos. (Follow "Arthropod Photo of the Week" via the #arthropodPOTW hashtag on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.)
ESA, founded in 1889, serves the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and individuals in related disciplines throughout the world. Its 7000 members are affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. They include teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, students, pest management professionals, and hobbyists.
The general public can order the 2022 calendar online by accessing this link. The cost per calendar is $10 for ESA members and $14 or non-members, with decreased costs for multiple orders.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ever seen a cuckoo bee?
They're also called parasitic bees or "kleptoparasites" or "cleptoparasitises."
They cannot carry pollen (no apparatus) and do not construct their nests. They lay their eggs in the nests of their hosts and then eat the food meant for the hosts. Or as the late Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, told us: "They eat the provisions, a pollen ball meant for the host offspring, and kill and eat the host larvae."
We've been watching a cuckoo bee, Xeromelecta californica, a parasite of the digger bee, Anthophora, as it forages on the African blue basil.
We've also been watching Anthophora urbana foraging on the basil. When the female leaves her nest to gather more food, the cuckoo bee takes the opportunity to lay an egg in her nest.
Sneaky, aren't they?
Very.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You could call it a slacker, a deadbeat, a moocher, a sponger, or a loafer.
Or you could call it a cuckoo bee.
Take the cuckoo bee, Xeromelecta californica, a parasite of the digger bee, Anthophora.
When the female Anthophora leaves its nest to collect more pollen, the female cuckoo bee sneaks in and lays an egg.
"When the host female seals her nest, it seals the doom of her own offspring," distinguished emeritus professor Robbin Thorp of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology told the crowd at last week's 40th annual Western Apicultural Society meeting, held at UC Davis. They eat the provisions, a pollen ball meant for the host offspring, and kill and eat the host larvae.
The cuckoo bee offspring emerge.
Thorp, co-author of California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists, also called attention to their "pointy abdomen" and "wasp-looking appearance."
But they are bees--cuckoo bees. They're also called parasitic bees or "kleptoparasites" or "cleptoparasitises."
They have no pollen-carrying/collecting apparatus, like a scopa, because they don't need any, Thorp said, just as they do not construct their own nests.
If you look around a pollinator garden, you just might sight some cuckoo bees. Last week we saw a Xeromelecta californica (as identified by Thorp and Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and UC Davis professor of entomology). It was sipping nectar from a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica.
We've also spotted Anthophora urbana nectaring on our lavender.
One thing's for certain: a cuckoo bee didn't lay its eggs in the Anthophora nest that time or the urbana wouldn't have been there.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
When you visit the half-acre Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a bee friendly garden on Bee Biology Road at the University of California, Davis, you might just see a cuckoo bee.
The cuckoo bee (see below) is a male Triepeolus concavus, as identified by native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, who maintains an office in the adjacent Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.
Thorp has been monitoring the garden not only since it was planted--in the fall of 2009--but BEFORE it was planted, to collect the baseline data. To date, he's detected more than 80 species of bees, "and counting."
The cuckoo bee, nectaring on a blanket flower (Gaillardia), is just one of the species he's found in the garden.
The female cuckoo bee lays her eggs in the ground nests of other bees, including the sunflower bee, Svastra. Cuckoo bees are kleptoparasites, meaning that they steal the food stores provisioned by the host bee. Cuckoos lack pollen-collecting structures (scopa). So when the cuckoo bee eggs hatch, the larva will consume the pollen ball collected by the hosts, and kill and eat the host larvae.
Like human kleptomanias, they've found a way to make it in this world at the expense of others.
Thorp annually teaches at The Bee Course, described as a "workshop offered for conservation biologists, pollination ecologists and other biologists who want to gain greater knowledge of the systematics and biology of bees," and held at the Southwestern Research Station, Portal, Ariz. This year's dates are Aug. 25 to Sept. 4. The workshop attracts people from all over the world, including dozens from the UC system.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It’s triple-digit hot and you’re relaxing in a swimming pool when suddenly you realize you have company.
A knat-sized insect with a red abdomen lands next to you. It looks like a wasp. No, it looks like a bee. Wait, what is it?
In this case (see photo below), it's a female cuckoo sweat bee from the genus Sphecodes, according to native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis.
Sweat bees are attracted to perspiring skin and often drop into swimming pools where they greet you with a brief but sharp sting.
Sphecodes are cuckoo or parasitic bees. They don’t collect pollen or provide for their young because they don’t need to. They lay their eggs in the nests of other bees. When the larvae hatch, they turn villainous and eat the young of the host bee. They also steal the provisions.
These bees, from the family Halictidae, are really tiny, about 0.2 to 0.6 inches. You’ll see them from late spring until early fall
It’s a large genus, with about 80 known species in the United States and Canada, says entomologist Mace Vaughan of the Xerces Society.
In most species, females are dark red with a shiny abdomen, Vaughan says, while males have a partially or entirely black abdomen.
Call them cuckoo bees. Call them parasitic bees. Call them clepto-parasitic bees. Whatever you call them, you’ll remember that red abdomen and sharp sting.
You'll see red for just a little while.
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