Top Results for Cuckoo Bee

Bombus variabilis is a species of cuckoo bumblebee native to North America, placed in the subgenus Psithyrus. It is a social parasite that does not construct its own colony but instead invades the nests of other bumblebee species, relying on the host workers to rear its offspring. The species has ex...

Thyreus caeruleopunctatus is an Australian blue-spotted cuckoo bee, notable as a brood parasite of solitary Amegilla bees rather than a nest builder.

The neon cuckoo bee, Thyreus nitidulus, is an Australian bee in the family Apidae, formally described in 1787. Its black body bears conspicuous patches of bright blue hair, producing the spotted appearance reflected in its common name. It is a cleptoparasite: females enter nests made by blue-banded...

The Variable Cuckoo Bumblebee (Bombus variabilis) is a parasitic bee species native to North America. As a social parasite, it does not build its own nests or gather pollen; instead, its queens invade the established colonies of other bumblebee species. Once inside, the cuckoo bumblebee queen subdue...

Bombus suckleyi, commonly known as Suckley's cuckoo bumblebee, is a North American insect that operates as an obligate social parasite. Lacking its own worker caste, the parasitic queen invades the nests of other bumblebee species, particularly targeting resource-rich colonies of orange-belted bumbl...

Gooden's nomad bee (Nomada goodeniana) is a species of cuckoo bee found across Europe. It is easily recognized by its distinctive wasp-like appearance, featuring bright yellow and black markings, and it lacks the pollen-collecting structures seen in other bees. This species is a cleptoparasite, mean...

Bombus rupestris is a species of cuckoo bumblebee in the family Apidae, widely distributed across Europe. As an obligate social parasite, it lacks its own worker caste and instead has queens that infiltrate and take over colonies of the red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius), using the host worker...

Nomada fucata is a species of cuckoo bee found across the Palearctic region, first described by the entomologist Georg Wolfgang Franz Panzer in 1798. Like other kleptoparasitic bees, it does not construct its own nests or gather pollen. Instead, it relies on the nests of solitary mining bees, partic...

Nomada rufipes, commonly called the fringed nomad bee, is a Palearctic species of cuckoo bee in the family Apidae. It does not construct and provision its own nest; instead, the female enters nests of host mining bees and lays eggs there, after which its larvae consume the stored pollen provisions....

Nomada fucata, commonly called the painted nomad bee, is a Palearctic cuckoo bee in the family Apidae. Like other Nomada species, it does not construct and provision an independent nest; the female enters the nest of a host mining bee and lays an egg there. Its larva develops using the host's stored...

Bombus vestalis, commonly called the vestal cuckoo bumblebee, is a European parasitic bumblebee described by Étienne Louis Geoffroy in Fourcroy's 1785 work. Instead of founding and provisioning its own colony, a female enters the nest of another bumblebee, chiefly the buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus t...

Coelioxys inermis is a species of cuckoo bee in the family Megachilidae, originally described by William Kirby in 1802. Like other members of Coelioxys, it does not construct and provision its own nest; the female lays eggs in the nests of other solitary bees, and the developing larva consumes the s...

Sphecodes monilicornis, commonly called the box-headed blood bee, is a Palearctic sweat bee in the family Halictidae. It is cleptoparasitic: females do not gather pollen for their own brood, instead entering nests of other bees and laying eggs there, so host females provision the developing larvae....

Bombus bohemicus, commonly known as the gypsy cuckoo bumblebee, is a parasitic insect native to Eurasia. First described by Seidl in 1837, this species does not build its own nests or collect pollen. Instead, a fertile female usurps the established colony of a host bumblebee species, typically killi...

Bombus campestris, commonly called the field cuckoo bumblebee or field cuckoo-bee, is a Eurasian species of parasitic bumblebee. It does not produce a worker caste; a female enters a nest of a host bumblebee, takes over the colony's reproductive role, and uses the host workers to rear her offspring....

Coelioxys octodentata, also called the eight-toothed cuckoo leafcutter bee, is a solitary bee in the leafcutter-bee family Megachilidae. Females are cleptoparasites: instead of constructing and provisioning their own brood cells, they enter nests of other solitary bees, especially leafcutter bees in...

Bombus sylvestris, commonly called the forest cuckoo bumblebee, is a species of cuckoo bumblebee found across much of Europe and in parts of Russia. It is a social parasite: the female enters a nest of another bumblebee, usually Bombus pratorum, suppresses the host queen's reproduction, and lays egg...

Triepeolus concavus is a North American cuckoo bee in the family Apidae. It is a kleptoparasite of solitary bees: the female places an egg in a host nest, and the developing larva uses provisions gathered for the host's offspring. Because it does not excavate and provision a normal nest for its own...

Coelioxys rufitarsis is a North American species of solitary cuckoo bee in the leafcutter-bee family Megachilidae. Females do not collect pollen for their own brood; instead, the species uses the nests of other bees, where its offspring develop at the expense of the host's provisions. Its pointed ab...

Bombus insularis is a North American cuckoo bumblebee, a social parasite in the genus Bombus and the group historically treated as the subgenus Psithyrus. A female enters a colony founded by another bumblebee species and uses the host workers and stored resources to rear her own offspring rather tha...

Bombus citrinus, the lemon cuckoo bumblebee, is a parasitic bumblebee in the subgenus Psithyrus. It does not establish a normal worker-producing colony or rear its own young; instead, a female enters a nest of a host bumblebee and uses that colony to raise her offspring. The species is most common i...

Stelis phaeoptera is a species of cuckoo bee in the family Megachilidae and is recorded in Europe. Cuckoo bees do not generally construct and provision their own nests; instead, they enter nests made by host bees and lay eggs there. Their larvae use provisions collected by the host and develop withi...

Epeolus cruciger is a species of cuckoo bee in the family Apidae. It is cleptoparasitic: instead of provisioning its own nest, the female enters the nest of a host bee and leaves an egg, with the developing offspring using resources collected by the host. The species is associated with Colletes bees...

Nomada mormon is a species of cuckoo bee in the family Apidae and genus Nomada, recorded from North America. Like other nomad bees, it is cleptoparasitic: the female does not collect pollen for a nest of her own, but places an egg in the nest of another solitary bee. The developing larva uses the ho...

Epeolus variegatus is a species of cuckoo bee in the family Apidae, originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is a cleptoparasite: the female uses nests made by other bees rather than collecting pollen to provision her own offspring. Records identify several Colletes species as hosts, includ...

Triepeolus remigatus is a species of cuckoo bee in the family Apidae, first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1804. It is cleptoparasitic: instead of provisioning its own nest in the usual way, it lays its eggs in nests made by other bees, leaving the developing offspring to use the host’s p...

Coelioxys conoidea is a medium-sized solitary bee in the family Megachilidae, commonly associated with the sharp-tailed or cuckoo bees. It is a kleptoparasite of leafcutter bees, including Megachile species: the female enters a host nest cell and lays an egg, after which the larva consumes provision...

Coelioxys rufescens, also called the rufescent sharp-tail bee, is a solitary bee in the family Megachilidae recorded in parts of Europe and Asia. It is a cleptoparasite: the female enters a host nest, cuts or pierces the cell wall, and lays an egg among the host's provisions rather than collecting p...

Stelis punctulatissima is a species of solitary bee in the family Megachilidae. It is a cleptoparasite, meaning that the female lays her egg in a nest prepared and provisioned by another bee instead of collecting pollen and building a nest for her own offspring. The species is associated with Europe...