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Australian Wildlife

  Neon Cuckoo Bee (Thyreus nitidulus)





Neon Cuckoo Bee | Thyreus nitidulus photo
Neon Cuckoo Bee

Image by Louise Docker - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







NEON CUCKOO BEE FACTS

Identification
The Neon Cuckoo Bee is a black bee with metallic blue spots on the back and sides. They are called cuckoo bees because they lay their eggs in the burrows of other bees.

Breeding
The Cuckoo Bee lays an egg in the burrow of a Blue-banded Bee or Teddy Bear Bee (members of the Amegilla genus). When the Cuckoo Bee egg hatches, it feeds on the Amegilla bee egg or larvae.



Classification
Class:Insecta
Order:Hymenoptera
Family:Apidae
Genus:Thyreus
Species:nitidulus
Common Name:Neon Cuckoo Bee

Relatives in same Genus
  Cuckoo Bee (T. caeruleopunctatus)