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.


Body length 15mm

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.


Photo thanks to Kylie Hungerford 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.



On Feb 2011 we found this bee visiting flowers during late afternoon.





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.