Ants 
                                      
 
 
 

Neon Cuckoo Bee - Thyreus nitidulus

Family ANTHOPHORIDAE

This page contains pictures and information about Neon Cuckoo Bees that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.

 
Neon Cuckoo Bee (top one) and Blue-banded Bee, body length 15mm                                                                            Photo thanks to Kylie Hungerford
 
The Neon Cuckoo Bee female does not make its own nest. It lays egg in the nest of blue-banded bee. Female places an egg in a partially completed brood cell. After the blue-banded bee finishes provision and seals the brood cell, the cuckoo bee egg hatches into larvae and feeds on the provisions stored by blue-banded bee. 
 
P3120093_s.JPG (90131 bytes)
Photo thanks to Kylie Hungerford
Three Blue-banded Bees and one Cuckoo Bee. 
 
They rest on grass stem in small group, as shown in the above picture. They hold themselves on stem by their jaws.  
 

Reference:
1. Native Bees of the Sydney region, a field guide - Anne Dollin, Michael Batley, Martyn Robinson & Brian Faulkner, Australian Native Bee Research Centre. P55.

 
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Last updated: March 16, 2010.