For those of you who did not read the previous post from last spring about the Japanese Hornfaced Bee, catch up on it here. Essentially this new bee friend came into my apartment and moved into my sadly seldom used pilates cord. After roasting in the summer sun in an attic apartment I wasn't surprised to see no bees emerge in the fall. I waited to the spring to see if they would emerge then, but to no avail. So an autopsy is done...
razor blade to cord with crunchy bees under the plastic
there was a layer of mud in between each of the larvae
the bees were fully developed and had this tiny mouse turd looking
things on them.
we took out the magnifying glass and looked closer...
I am not sure what they were? Bee poo? or maybe a parasite of some kind that killed
them? They looked like little grains to me.
Bee Parts
Japanese horn faced bee wing with pollen on it
And the pilates cord in back in use...a bit shorter for the journey, but usable :)
1 comment:
The little mouse-poopie looking things were bee poop. We have mason bees and the cocoons that we bought had similar little things on them. I was curious too and asked the seller, who said it was the poo from the larva as it grew, consuming the pollen ball left by mom, before spinning the cocoon to finish pupating. Nice story. Shows the bees don't need something real fancy, just something "tunnelly"! (Also that they don't always make wise location decisions...).
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