cuckoo bee emerging from the hole of the hairy footed flower bee, anthophora plumipes, after laying eggs.

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The term cuckoo bee is used for a variety of different bee lineages which have evolved the kleptoparasitic habit of laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, reminiscent of the behavior of cuckoo birds. This unidentified species was parasitising, the nesting holes of anthophora spp.

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Size: 4600px × 3748px
Location: Oxfordshire, UK
Photo credit: © Julian Brooks / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: apid, bee, cleptoparasite, close, close-, closeup, compound, copy, cuckoo, emerging, emerysrule, eyes, hole, invader, jaws, kleptoparasitic, macro, mandibles, mimic, mimicry, mortar, nesting, parasite, parasitic, soft