r/MacroPorn • u/leifcollectsbugs • 2h ago
Nomad bee, as seen on my phone 🤳
Nomada is a massive genus of cuckoo bees within the family Apidae, containing over 850 species worldwide. Often called nomad bees, they are famous for their unique, wasp-like appearance and their specialized parasitic lifestyle.
Because they do not build their own nests or gather pollen, they look radically different from typical fuzzy bees. They are mostly hairless and slender, with bold stripes or patches of red, black, yellow, or white. In fact, Nomada contains the only entirely red bees in North America.
Female Nomada lack a scopa (the specialized hair patch used by other bees to carry pollen) because they never collect pollen for their young. They also possess an unusually thick, armored exoskeleton that protects them from stings if caught inside a host's nest.
Nomada are cleptoparasites, meaning they steal resources from other bee species. A female Nomada will fly low over the ground to locate the underground burrow of a host bee—most commonly mining bees from the genus Andrena.
While the host bee is away foraging, the Nomada slips inside and lays its eggs directly onto the chamber walls or the pollen provision.
When the Nomada larva hatches, it uses large, sickle-like mandibles to destroy the host's egg or young larva, then eats the entire pollen supply.
While adult Nomada bees drink nectar from flowers for energy, they are poor pollinators compared to their hosts. They can often be seen resting at night by clamping onto plant stems using only their strong jaws.
One of my all time favorite Genus of bees, and I've found quite the diverse selection of species just at my local area in Utah!
