Cuckoo bees
Click to enlarge image
© Australian Museum
Fast Facts
-
Classification
- Genus
- Thyreus
- Subfamily
- Apinae
- Family
- Apidae
- Super Family
- Apoidea
- Suborder
- Apocrita
- Order
- Hymenoptera
- Class
- Insecta
- Subphylum
- Uniramia
- Phylum
- Arthopoda
- Kingdom
- Animalia
-
- Size Range
- 1 cm - 1.4 cm
Cuckoo bees do not build their own nests.
Identification
The Neon Cuckoo Bee is probably the most distinctive of Sydney's cuckoo bee species. It has an iridescent blue and black colouration and stands out clearly in sunlight. The wings are light brown with a purple sheen.
Habitat
Cuckoo bees live in urban areas, forests and woodlands, and heath.
Distribution
Cuckoo bees are found throughout most of Australia.
Life history cycle
Cuckoo bees do not build their own nests. Like the cuckoo birds that get another species to raise their young, these bees lay their eggs in other bees' nests. Usually a female cuckoo bee stalks the nest of a blue-banded bee, and tries to sneak into it during construction of the cell intended for the nest-owner's egg. If she can go undetected while the female blue-banded bee is busy preparing food and shelter for her own young, the female cuckoo bee will also lay an egg in the cell. When the cell is sealed by the nest-owner, the egg of the cuckoo bee hatches and the larva eats all the nectar/pollen provisions. It then spins a cocoon and pupates. When the blue-banded bee larva emerges, there is no food left and it dies.
Cuckoo bees
Image: Andrew Donnelly© Australian Museum
