Animal Corner

Discover the many amazing animals that live on our planet.

  • Home
  • A-Z Animals
  • Anatomy
  • Glossary
  • Animal Lists
    • Animal By Letter
    • Animals by Location
    • Mammals
    • Birds
    • Reptiles
    • Amphibians
  • Free Resources
    • Animal Coloring Pages
    • Animal Jokes
    • Animal Quizzes
  • Pets
    • Dog Breeds
    • Rabbit Breeds
    • Cat Breeds
    • Pet Rodents
    • Animal Care
  • Blog
You are here: Home / Animals / Parasitic Bees

Parasitic Bees

parasitic beesImage Source

Parasitic, or cuckoo bees are those that do not forage for food or make nests for themselves, instead they invade the nests and food supplies of other species of bees, particularly Solitary bees, to provide for their parasitic young.

There are two types of Parasitic bee:

Cleptoparasitic Bees and Social Parasites

Cleptoparasitic (pronounced: clepto-para-sit-ic) bees invade the nests of solitary bees. They lay their eggs in finished, but unsealed cells that the queen bee has made for her own eggs, and then close the chambers off.

The young parasitic bees then feed upon the food that was stored in the chamber by the host female for her own offspring. The eggs or young larvae of the host queen bee are killed either by the parasitic female or by her larvae, therefore, claiming the poor solitary queen bees’ nest and cell chambers.

Social parasites are bees that kill the resident queen, lay their own eggs in the hosts cells, and then force the hosts workers to raise the young parasitic bees.

 Female parasitic bees lack such special features as pollen baskets or pollen brushes since they do not forage for food for their young.

Parasitic bees are basically the ‘thieves’ of the bee world.

More Fascinating Animals to Learn About

  • honey bees
    Honey Bee Characteristics
  • Africanized Bees
  • Solitary Bees
    Solitary Bees
  • stingless bees
    Stingless Bees
  • Bees
  • honey bees
    Honey Bee

About Joanne Spencer

I've always been passionate about animals which led me to a career in training and behaviour. As an animal professional I'm committed to improving relationships between people and animals to bring them more happiness.

Animal Classification

Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Class:Insecta
Order:Hymenoptera
Superfamily:Apoidea
Clade:Anthophila
Family:Megachilidae

Search

Most Popular Animals

  • Zebras
  • Aquatic Warbler
  • Atlantic Dolphins
  • Trapdoor Spider
  • Giraffe
  • Meerkats
  • Timber Wolf
  • Praying Mantis
  • Huntsman Spider
  • Vampire Bat

Galapagos Islands

galapagos-islands

Animal Names Glossary

Animal Names

British Wildlife

british-wildlife

Mammals

anatomy

Dog Breeds

dog breeds

Farm Animals

Farm Animals

Best of the Blog

  • 21 Amazing Animals that live in Lakes
  • What are the Fastest Animals in the World?
  • 31 Animals with Weird and Funny Sounding Names
  • Top 15 Deadliest Animals in the World
  • Ophiophagy – Examples of animals that eat snakes
  • List of Fascinating Solitary Animals

Copyright © 2005-2022 · Animal Corner · All Rights Reserved · Affiliate Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Animals Sitemap . About Us

AnimalCorner.org is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.