Posts Tagged: blister beetles
Groundbreaking Case of Exploitation, Deception: What UC Davis-UC Riverside Scientists Learned About Parasitic Blister Beetles and Digger Bees
DAVIS--A parasitic blister beetle thrives in digger bee nests through intricate exploitation...
A male Habropoda pallida bee from the Mojave Desert covered with Meloe franciscanus triungulins (first install larvae). These triungulins will transfer from the male bee to female bees during mating and then deplane from the female bee when she enters her nest. The blister beetle larvae feed on the pollen and nectar provisions inside the bee nest and then emerge as an adult beetle the next winter (one beetle per each bee cell). (Copyrighted photo by Leslie Saul-Gershenz)
A male solitary bee Habropoda miserabilis after a contact with a Meloe franciscanus triungulin aggregation in Oregon. The triungulins attach to the male bee to hitch a ride to a female H. miserabilis bee. (Copyrighted Photo by Leslie Saul-Gershenz)
Leslie Saul-Gershenz at work in the Mojave Desert. (Photo by Norman Gershenz)