Other winning names included "Skeetle", a beetle that escapes predators using natural "jet skis"; "Mab's lantern", a rare four-spotted beetle; "St John's jellyfish", a tiny 1cm jellyfish in the shape of a Maltese cross and "Scabious
cuckoo bee", which lays its eggs in the nests of other bees.
The Southern
Cuckoo bee, which is usually found in the south of England, was spotted by Bumblebee Conservation Trust officer Bob Dawson near Humbleton Hill, in Berwickshire.
Red-tailed, carder, bufftailed and early bumblebee were all spotted along with a magnificent queen
cuckoo bee," Peter explains.
Cuckoo Bee So called because,like the cuckoo,it is parasitic.
Hill
cuckoo bee (Psithyrus rupestris): Becoming scarce countrywide but, once again, is breeding well within the county.
There is a bee which, because it has no workers to make its nest, lays its eggs in the nest of another type of bee and has therefore become known as the
cuckoo bee.
Well, they might get their every need taken care of - fed, cleaned, fanned - but as soon as she's getting too old or is injured in any way, the hive think nothing of it to rear a new queen and then actually bump off the old queen!" The resulting book is aimed at people who would like to find out a little more about bees - honeybees, bumblebees, solitary bees and even
cuckoo bees. It also covers bees in art and literature as well as myth and legend, including the enchanting tradition of "telling the bees" of all-important events in your family.
Part 1 also includes sections on: Importance of native bees; Bee life cycles; Sexing bees; About males and mating; Stings; Colour patterns, mimicry and crypsis; Sociality; Nests and nesting behaviour;
Cuckoo bees; Seasonality; Associated organisms; Conservation of bees; Historical account; and Collecting and preserving bees.
Or that
cuckoo bees survive by worming their way into bumblebee nests, overthrowing the queen and enslaving the inhabitants?
The decline of the bumble bees and
cuckoo bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombini) of western and central Europe.
Considerable detail is given and I learned a lot--did you know of the existence of
cuckoo bees? I had to read the story a few times to understand the whole sequence and the glossary at the back might helpfully have been at the front!