Cuckoo bee, Nomada lathburiana.
The term cuckoo bee is used for a variety of different bee lineages which have evolved the kleptoparasitic behaviour of laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, reminiscent of the behaviour of cuckoo birds. Cuckoo bees typically enter the nests of pollen-collecting species, and lay their eggs in cells provisioned by the host bee such as the Ashy mining bee Adrena cineraria. When the cuckoo bee larva hatches it consumes the host larva’s pollen ball, and, if the female kleptoparasite has not already done so, kills and eats the host larva. Photo: Tristam Bantock
