Are there bee hunting wasps?
Beewolf
Beewolves (genus Philanthus), also known as bee-hunters or bee-killer wasps, are solitary, predatory wasps, most of which prey on bees, hence their common name. The adult females dig tunnels in the ground for nesting, while the territorial males mark twigs and other objects with pheromones to claim the territory from competing males.
Liostenogaster vechti
The main predators of these wasps are hornets (especially "Vespa tropica"), ichneumonid flies, and ants. The hornets attack and damage the nests by ripping the cells apart with their mandibles and then extracting portions of the brood. Raided nests can easily be identified by locating cells that have been ripped or torn. When a hornet or other flying predator approaches, the wasps engage in aerial attacks by throwing themselves into the air in the direction of the potential danger. They actually engage in this behavior very frequently and do so in response to any insect of similar size to hornets that approaches the nests in a questionable manner. When ants approach or invade the nests, the wasps will either grab the ants and drag them away from the nests, or, if the ants are especially large, the wasps will first assume a defensive posture, seize the ants, and then purposely fall out of the nests to ensure the ants are removed. Spiders may also prey on these wasps, but they are much more likely to catch solitary individuals away from the nest.
Chestnut-headed bee-eater
This is a bird which breeds in sub-tropical open woodland, often near water. It is most common in highland areas. As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch.
Tarantula hawk
A tarantula hawk is a spider wasp (Pompilidae) that hunts tarantulas. Tarantula hawks belong to any of the many species in the genera "Pepsis" and "Hemipepsis". They are parasitoid wasps, using their sting to paralyze their prey before dragging it to a brood nest as living food; a single egg is laid on the prey, hatching to a larva which eats the still-living prey.
Western honey bee
Insect predators of honeybees include the Asian giant hornet and other wasps, robber flies, dragonflies such as the green darner, the European beewolf, some praying mantises, and the water strider.
List of Star Wars creatures
Wampas are a horned, clawed, white-furred, carnivorous species of snow monsters native to the frozen world of Hoth. They are a semi-sentient race of predators standing over 2 m (6.6 ft) in height, subsisting in the cold climate by hunting tauntauns—their primary prey. Wampas are usually solitary creatures, but are known to occasionally hunt in packs. Their white fur allows wampas to blend-in with Hoth's blinding blizzards, enabling them to catch their prey completely unaware. Once they have made their kill, wampas drag the carcasses back to their icy lair, where they suspend them from the ceiling until ready to eat them. Due to the extreme temperatures of Hoth and the cold-blooded nature of the wampa, the creatures are difficult to track on radar. A similar species is believed to inhabit the planet Gall, in the Outer Rim.
Behavioral ecology
Many insect species of the order Hymenoptera (bees, ants, wasps) are eusocial. Within the nests or hives of social insects, individuals engage in specialized tasks to ensure the survival of the colony. Dramatic examples of these specializations include changes in body morphology or unique behaviors, such as the engorged bodies of the honeypot ant "Myrmecocystus mexicanus" or the waggle dance of honey bees and a wasp species, "Vespula vulgaris".
Parasitoid wasp
Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causing the death of these hosts. Different species specialise in hosts from different insect orders, most often Lepidoptera, though some select beetles, flies, or bugs; the spider wasps (Pompilidae) exclusively attack spiders.
Ammophila sabulosa
Ammophila sabulosa, the red-banded sand wasp, is a species of the subfamily Ammophilinae of the hunting wasp family Sphecidae. Found in northern Europe, the wasp is notable for the mass provisioning behaviour of the females, hunting caterpillars mainly on sunny days, paralysing them with a sting, and burying them in a burrow with a single egg. The species is also remarkable for the extent to which females parasitise their own species, either stealing prey from nests of other females to provision their own nests, or in brood parasitism, removing the other female's egg and laying one of her own instead.
Australian hornet
The Australian hornet ("Abispa ephippium"), actually a type of potter wasp or "mason wasp", is a vespid insect native to the Australian states and territories of the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. The Australian hornet is a solitary insect, forming small nests against buildings and other structures. The adult wasp feeds off flower nectar, while the larvae are fed caterpillars captured by the female.
Tarantula
Regardless of their fearsome reputation, tarantulas themselves are an object of predation. The most specialized of these predators are large members of the wasp family Pompilidae such as the wasp "Hemipepsis ustulata". These wasps are called "tarantula hawks". The largest tarantula hawks, such as those in the genus "Pepsis", track, attack, and kill large tarantulas. They use olfaction to find the lair of a tarantula. The wasp must deliver a sting to the underside of the spider's cephalothorax, exploiting the thin membrane between the basal leg segments. This paralyzes the spider, and the wasp then drags it back into its burrow before depositing an egg on the prey's abdomen. The wasp then seals the spider in its burrow and flies off to search for more hosts. The wasp larva hatches and feeds on the spider's inessential parts and, as it approaches pupation, it consumes the remainder. Other arthropods, such as giant centipedes, are also known to prey on tarantulas.
Beagling
Beagling is the hunting mainly of hares and also rabbits, but definitely not foxes, by beagles by scent. A beagle pack (10 or more hounds) is usually followed on foot, but in a few cases mounted. Beagling is often enjoyed by 'retired' fox hunters who have either sustained too many injuries or lost the agility to ride horseback, or who enjoy the outdoors and the camaraderie of the hunt. It is also traditionally a way for young men and women to learn how to handle hounds on a smaller scale before they go on to hunt with foxhounds.
Warren Hill, Bournemouth
Meadow pipit and skylark thrive there. There are typically five breeding pairs of skylark and nine pairs of meadow pipit as well as three pairs of Dartford warbler. The area is home to the nocturnal violet ground beetle, and the powerful daytime predator, the green tiger beetle. Along with spiders, the beetles of Warren Hill provide visiting birds with a regular source of food. Exposed sandy areas attract burrowing sand wasps and other mining species such as the nationally scarce nomad bee, the large velvet ant and the cuckoo bee. The adder and the common lizard also have established populations up on the hill.
Parischnogaster alternata
Similar to other Stenogastrinae, the major predators of the Black hover wasps are ants, ichneumon flies, and "Vespa" hornets, specifically "Vespula tropica "(which has also been found to be a major predator of a number of "Parischnogaster" species, such as Parischnogaster mellyi and Parischnogaster nigricans serrei). Hornets often visit the nests of "P. alternata" and extract pupae and large larvae. While the colonies are relatively small, the presence of helpers and co-foundresses contributes to active defense tactics. Females may attempt to attack hornets in flight by stinging. Through cooperative defense, some residents drive away the hornets while the wasps fall from the nest in order to save the adult individuals. Nonetheless, evolution has decreased active defense mechanisms of "P. alternata." Thus, the attempts to attack predators often have little to no effect.
Lepidoptera
Only 42 species of parasitoid lepidopterans are known (1 Pyralidae; 40 Epipyropidae). The larvae of the greater and lesser wax moths feed on the honeycomb inside bee nests and may become pests; they are also found in bumblebee and wasp nests, albeit to a lesser extent. In northern Europe, the wax moth is regarded as the most serious parasitoid of the bumblebee, and is found only in bumblebee nests. In some areas in southern England, as much as 80% of nests can be destroyed. Other parasitic larvae are known to prey upon cicadas and leaf hoppers.
Bee-eater
Prey can be spotted from a distance; European bee-eaters are able to spot a bee away, and blue-cheeked bee-eaters have been observed flying out to catch large wasps. Prey is approached directly or from behind. Prey that lands on the ground or on plants is usually not pursued. Small prey may be eaten on the wing, but larger items are returned to the perch where they are beaten until dead and then broken up. Insects with poisonous stings are first smacked on the branch, then, with the bird's eyes closed, rubbed to discharge the venom sac and stinger. This behaviour is innate, as demonstrated by a juvenile bird in captivity, which performed the task when first presented with wild bees. This bird was stung on the first five tries, but by ten bees, it was as adept at handling bees as adult birds.
Chrysis ignita
Chrysis ignita, also known as the ruby-tailed wasp, is a species of cuckoo wasps. Cuckoo wasps are kleptoparasites – they lay their eggs in the nests of other wasp species and their young consume the eggs or larva of the host wasp for sustenance. These wasps have a number of adaptions which have evolved to equip them for their life cycle. "Chrysis ignita" parasitize mason bees in particular. Ruby-tailed wasps have metallic, armored bodies, and can roll up into balls to protect themselves from harm when infiltrating the nests of host bees and wasps. Unlike most other Hymenopterans, cuckoo wasps cannot sting. "Chrysis ignita" is found across the European continent.
Batozonellus lacerticida
This species hunts large orb weaver spiders (Araneidae family), mainly "Argiope bruennichii", "Argiope lobata", "Araneus angulatus" and "Araneus ventricosus". The wasps paralyze these spiders with their poisonous stings and drag them into their underground nests. Then they lay an egg into the abdomen of their prey.
Philanthus crabroniformis
Philanthus crabroniformis is a species of bee-hunting wasp (or "beewolf") of North America.
Purple-bearded bee-eater
The purple-bearded bee-eater, again like its relatives, eats insects, including bees, wasps and dragonflies and beetles, which are caught in flight. This species hunts alone or in pairs, rather than in flocks, and sits on a favoured perch for long periods, twisting its head with its beard flattened or plumped, and wagging its tail back and forth before sallying after passing prey.
Philanthus gibbosus
The predation habits of the family Crabronidae shed light on the question whether bees or wasps came first. There is evidence that, based on the predation habits of species in the Crabronidae family, bees are a lineage of pollen-collecting wasps that descend directly from a group of predatory wasps in Crabronidae.
Hymenoptera training
Researchers at the University of Georgia have built a device named the "Wasp Hound" which contains the parasitic wasp species "Microplitis croceipes". The insects normally walk around the PVC pipe in which they are housed but begin to migrate towards the source of an odour when it is the one that they were trained to recognise. These movements are tracked by a computer, with small cameras inside the device sending images for processing. Within 30 seconds of the wasps beginning to congregate near an odour source an alarm is sounded.
Angiopolybia pallens
The "Angiopolybia pallens" is predominantly found in Brazil. They are among the most common species of wasps in this area by an overwhelming amount, as seen in multiple feeding behavior studies. The wasps prefer more humid environments and are more active when humidity levels are higher. However, the wasps are generally more active during the cooler parts of the day, like the early morning or around dusk. The nests of these wasps are typically found in rainforest environments in clearings or on the edge of the forest. "A. pallens" typically have nests that are large and easy to see hanging off of the branch of a tree. This means that their nests are subject to predation by ants and other animals. In order to compensate for the size and easy sighting the nests are protected from any ant predation by arboreal ants with which they share the tree.
Neotibicen dorsatus
Cicada killer wasps frequently attack Neotibicen cicadas. The female wasp's keen eye scans trees and vegetation in search of prey. After locating a cicada, the wasp stings the cicada, injecting paralyzing venom. The wasp will then drag the paralyzed victim up a tree or post and fly away with it back to her nest. The cicada is buried in an underground burrow along with the wasp's eggs. The wasp's larvae emerge and feed on the living but paralyzed prey, pupate, and emerge the following spring. There is usually one generation of wasps a year.
Spider wasp
Wasps in the family Pompilidae are commonly called spider wasps or pompilid wasps. The family is cosmopolitan, with some 5,000 species in six subfamilies. All species are solitary, and most capture and paralyze prey, though members of the subfamily Ceropalinae are cleptoparasites of other pompilids, or ectoparasitoids of living spiders.
Sphecius speciosus
The males are more often seen in groups, vigorously challenging one another for position on the breeding aggregation from which they emerged, and generally investigate anything that moves or flies near them. It is not unusual to see two or three male wasps locked together in apparent midair combat, the aggregate adopting an erratic flight path until one of the wasps breaks away. The male wasp's aggressive behavior is similar to that of another robust insect of the area, the male carpenter bee. In both cases, while the males' vigorous territorial defense can be frightening and intimidating to human passersby, the males pose no danger whatsoever. Male cicada killers will only grapple with other insects, and cannot sting.
This ground-burrowing wasp may be found in well-drained, sandy soils to loose clay in bare or grass-covered banks, berms and hills as well as next to raised sidewalks, driveways and patio slabs. Females may share a burrow, digging their own nest cells off the main tunnel. A typical burrow is deep and about wide. In digging a burrow, the female dislodges the soil with her jaws and, using her hind legs, pushes loose soil behind her as she backs out of the burrow. Her hind legs are equipped with special spines that help her push the dirt behind her. The excess soil pushed out of the burrow forms a mound with a trench through it at the burrow entrance. Cicada killers may nest in planters, window boxes, flower beds or under shrubs, ground cover, etc. Nests often are made in the full sun where vegetation is sparse.
Bee Movie Game
Barry decides that he wants to go to the outside and joins the Pollen Jocks, a group of bees who go to the "outside" to collect nectar from flowers and bring them back. A Pollen Jock manages to train Barry so he would be a Pollen Jock such as how to make flowers bloom, and getting Nectar from them. He also teaches him to kill other non-bee insects such as hornets, wasps, and dragonflies. However, while Barry is resting, it starts to rain, but he manages to find cover in the apartment of a couple: Vanessa and Ken. Ken tries to smash Barry, but Vanessa allows him to escape. Barry soon discovers that the humans "steal" their honey regularly, so he goes to get the honey back. After chasing a truck delivering honey, he finds himself in a honey farm, where he takes pictures of it to prove to the rest of the bees that the humans are "stealing" their honey. However, a squad of wasps arrive at the apiary to take away the bees and kill Barry but he manages to fend them off and rout them, foiling their plans. Then, Freddy the head Beekeeper manages to smoke all the bees but Barry and the other bees defeat the Beekeeper which he bumps his head on the tree.
Tiphiidae
The females of some Brachycistidinae are wingless, and hunt ground-dwelling (fossorial) beetle larvae. The prey is paralysed with the female's sting and an egg is lain on it so the wasp larva has a ready supply of food. As some of the ground-dwelling scarab species attacked by tiphiids are pests, some of these wasps are considered beneficial as biological control agents.
Hunting wasp
The hunting wasps have long been known and have attracted the attention of generations of naturalists, but the term "hunting wasp" hardly appeared in literature published before the mid 19th century. Authors more often used the term "solitary wasp".
Protopolybia chartergoides
When a social wasp is in distress, it emits a pheromone that triggers nearby colony members into defensive mode, a greatly increased willingness and desire to sting. Wasps can sting repeatedly unlike their close relative, the bee. Stingers, which are actually modified egg-laying organs, are only found in females.
Emerald ash borer
Government agencies in both the USA and Canada have utilized a native species of parasitoid wasp, "Cerceris fumipennis", as a means of detecting areas to which emerald ash borer has spread. The females of these wasps hunt other jewel beetles and emerald ash borer if it is present. The wasps stun the beetles and carry them back to their burrows in the ground where they are stored until the wasps’ eggs hatch and the wasp larvae feed on the beetles. Volunteers catch the wasps as they return to their burrows carrying the beetles to determine whether emerald ash borer is present. This methodology is known as biological surveillance, as opposed to biological control, because it does not appear that the wasps have a significant negative impact on emerald ash borer populations.
Nest
Bees and hornets often seek out natural cavities in which to construct their nests, also known as hives, in which they store food and raise their young. Other species of bee and some wasps dig holes in the ground or chew through wood. In the species "Megachile rotundata", for example, females construct tubular-shaped nests in rotting wood as well as small holes in the ground, creating, each cell made from circular disks cut from plant leaves using the bee's mandibles. Bee nests are founded upon the wax the secrete from their bodies, while those of wasps are dependent on their ability to turn plant water into paper using their saliva. Nests often exhibit divided living, with eggs and food stores kept in distinct parts of the hive. Vespid wasps build complex nests from paper-like material where they lay eggs in individual cells. When the young hatch, their parents feed them chewed up larvae. Different species exhibit different nest structures. Paper wasp nesting consist of a single tier of cells, while yellow jacket nests can be many layers thick, reaching up to in diameter. Nesting strategies can be plastic, for instance the wasp "Parischnogaster mellyi" will significant vary its nest construction based on environmental conditions, and the wasp "Mischocyttarus mexicanus" is known to nest in groups or alone depending on the distribution of potential nest sites in the area. Nest sizes vary dramatically and the largest wasp nest on record measured in diameter and was tall. Found in New Zealand, it was likely built by the German wasp.
Termites build elaborate nests that span multiple generations and may last decades. Using chewed wood, mud, and feces they build large mounds which may extend well into the air. The largest nests, built by members of genus "Amitermes", stand nearly tall with a similar circumference at the base, and host millions of individuals. Termite mounds are constructed to allow for excellent air flow, regulating the mound temperature. The mounds protect against drying and predation allowing many species to lose ancestral traits such as hard bodies, skin pigmentation, and good eyesight. Magnetic termites construct their nests with flattened sides along the North-South axis to ensure maximum warming during the winter, while exposing minimal surface area to the harshest mid-day sunshine. Other termite species use their nests to farm fungi.
Hunting wasp
Most solitary hunting wasps sting their prey in such a manner as to paralyse it without killing it. As a result it remains fresh for the young to eat. In contrast carnivorous social wasps generally feed prey piecemeal to the larvae as soon as they bring it back to the colony, so there is no need for preservation of the material. A minority of solitary hunting wasps, such as certain Bembicinae, also butcher their prey before feeding it to the larvae.
Synoeca cyanea
The wasps forage for sugary substances o feed to both larvae and adult wasps. Additionally, necrophagy is a common practice for swarm-founding Neotropical bees and wasps, and one species that practices this is "S. cyanea". "S. cyanea" feed larvae the animal proteins collected. The wasps are predators of the coffee-leaf-miner, "Leucoptera coffeella".
Apis florea
The dwarf honey bee (or red dwarf honey bee), Apis florea, is one of two species of small, wild honey bees of southern and southeastern Asia. It has a much wider distribution than its sister species, "Apis andreniformis". First identified in the late 18th century, "Apis florea" is unique for its morphology, foraging behavior and defensive mechanisms like making a piping noise. "Apis florea" have open nests and small colonies, which makes them more susceptible to predation than cavity nesters with large numbers of defensive workers. These honey bees are important pollinators and therefore commodified in countries like Cambodia.
Apis cerana
Although both "Apis mellifera" and "Apis cerana" suffer from predation from "Vespine" wasps, one defense mechanism unique to "Apis cerana" is “wing shimmering”. During this period of self-defense, bees collectively execute carefully timed waves of shimmering of their wings when approached by predators such as "Vespine" wasps. This appears to serve as a distraction technique of visual pattern disruption that results in confusing predators. As a result, predators are unable to continue attacking additional bees, and are therefore unsuccessful in this endeavor.
Pacific burrowing wasp
The Pacific burrowing wasp ("Philanthus multimaculatus") is a species of bee-hunting wasp — or a "beewolf" — of Western North America.
Bee
The ancestors of bees were wasps in the family Crabronidae, which were predators of other insects. The switch from insect prey to pollen may have resulted from the consumption of prey insects which were flower visitors and were partially covered with pollen when they were fed to the wasp larvae. This same evolutionary scenario may have occurred within the vespoid wasps, where the pollen wasps evolved from predatory ancestors. Until recently, the oldest non-compression bee fossil had been found in New Jersey amber, "Cretotrigona prisca" of Cretaceous age, a corbiculate bee. A bee fossil from the early Cretaceous (~100 mya), "Melittosphex burmensis", is considered ""an extinct lineage of pollen-collecting Apoidea sister to the modern bees"". Derived features of its morphology (apomorphies) place it clearly within the bees, but it retains two unmodified ancestral traits (plesiomorphies) of the legs (two mid-tibial spurs, and a slender hind basitarsus), showing its transitional status. By the Eocene (~45 mya) there was already considerable diversity among eusocial bee lineages.
Thynnidae
Most species are small, but they can be up to 30 mm long. The females of some subfamilies (all Diamminae, Methochinae, and Thynninae) are wingless, and hunt ground-dwelling (fossorial) beetle larvae, or (in one species) mole crickets. The prey is paralysed with the female's sting and an egg is laid on it so the wasp larva has a ready supply of food. In species where both sexes are winged, males are similar in size to the females, but are much more slender. The males of species with wingless females, however, are often much larger than the females and have wings, the adults mating in the air, with the female carried by the male's genitalia. Adults feed on nectar and are minor pollinators. As some of the ground-dwelling scarab species attacked by thynnids are pests, some of these wasps are considered beneficial as biological control agents.
Polistes canadensis
Polistes canadensis, commonly known as the red paper wasp, is a Neotropical, primitively eusocial wasp. A largely predatory species, it hunts for caterpillar meat to supply its colony, often supplementing its developing larvae with nectar. The most widely distributed American species of the genus "Polistes", it colonises multiple combs, which it rears year-round. Emerging from hibernation in the spring, the females found nests built out of plant material such as dry grass and dead wood. These nests are not covered with an envelope and feature hexagonal cells in which eggs are laid and larvae develop. The "Polistes canadensis" colony divides its colony among several combs and does not reuse these combs as a defense mechanism against parasites such as the tineid moth. A single female queen with, on average, 9.1 foundresses, usually initiates the construction of new combs and cells to form nests. The more foundresses in a colony, the more combs produced. On average, combs grow for 15.4 days and achieve a size of 30.8 cells. One female queen exercises absolute dominance over all other females, often using lateral abdominal vibrations and stroking to suppress the aggressive behavior of her nestmates.
While the queen handles all the nest reproduction, the subordinates work to care for, defend, and feed the nest instead. The divisions of labor within the nest correlate with the ages of the red paper wasps. Aside from the female division of labor, male red paper wasps engage in two alternative mating tactics: the role of the territorial male (who chases away intruding patrollers) and the role of the patroller (who flies from tree to tree and does not chase other males). The study of the dominance relations within the "Polistes canadensis" has provided insight into the social organization that characterizes many social invertebrates.
Bee
Vertebrate predators of bees include bee-eaters, shrikes and flycatchers, which make short sallies to catch insects in flight. Swifts and swallows fly almost continually, catching insects as they go. The honey buzzard attacks bees' nests and eats the larvae. The greater honeyguide interacts with humans by guiding them to the nests of wild bees. The humans break open the nests and take the honey and the bird feeds on the larvae and the wax. Among mammals, predators such as the badger dig up bumblebee nests and eat both the larvae and any stored food. North American bears were particularly fond of honey.
Median wasp
The median wasp ("Dolichovespula media") is a species of social wasp of the family Vespidae found throughout Europe and Asia. It builds aerial paper nests often in shrubs or trees, and occasionally under the eaves of buildings. It is most common to see this wasp between May and October during its 3.3 month colony cycle. Behaviours of this wasp include nest defense, curling which is believed to function in brood incubation, and gastral vibration which is involved in larval feeding. The median wasp has a halplodiploid sex determination system that results in a high level of relatedness within the colony. This species is not usually aggressive but will sting if they feel their nest is threatened. Most foraging in the nest is done by the workers once the first ones reach adulthood. These workers forage for insects, nectar, and wood for nest construction in temperatures as low as . The median wasp is known to be occasionally affected by the fungus "Cordyceps sphecocephala" and the Cricket paralysis virus.
Apis cerana
As the Vespine wasps approach the entrance to the honeybee nest, more guard bees are alerted, which in turn increases their probability of being killed by heat-balling bees. Heat balling is a unique defense system in which several hundred bees surround the wasp in a tight ball and vibrate their muscles in an effort to produce heat and effectively kill the wasp inside. Alternatively, however, in the presence of a wasp, the bees may also just withdraw into their nests and await the heat-balling circumstances to develop naturally. Furthermore, other bees may just decide to fly away as an evasive measure in times of conflict, often altering their specific flight styles in order to avoid predation.
Bee-eater
As their name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat flying insects, especially bees and wasps, which are caught in the air by flights from an open perch. The stinger is removed by repeatedly hitting and rubbing the insect on a hard surface. During this process, pressure is applied to the insect, thereby extracting most of the venom.
Philanthus pulchellus
Philanthus pulchellus is a species of bee-hunting wasp (or "beewolf") of Spain and adjacent regions of Europe.
Hymenoptera training
Sniffer bees or sniffer wasps are insects in the order Hymenoptera that can be trained to perform a variety of tasks to detect substances such as explosive materials or illegal drugs, as well as some human and plant diseases. The sensitivity of the olfactory senses of bees and wasps in particular have been shown to rival the abilities of sniffer dogs, though they can only be trained to detect a single scent each.
Philanthus gloriosus
Philanthus gloriosus is a species of bee-hunting wasp found west of the 100th meridian in North America, from Medicine Hat, Alberta south across the High Plains and Rocky Mountains to the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Mexico City and Puebla.
Bee-eater
Bee-eaters consume a wide range of insects; beyond a few distasteful butterflies they consume almost any insect from tiny "Drosophila" flies to large beetles and dragonflies. At some point bee-eaters have been recorded eating beetles, mayflies, stoneflies, cicadas, termites, crickets and grasshoppers, mantises, true flies and moths. For many species the dominant prey item are stinging members of the order Hymenoptera, namely wasps and bees. In a survey of 20 studies the proportion of the diet made up by bees and wasps varied from 20% to 96%, with the average being 70%. Of these honeybees can comprise a large part of the diet, as much as 89% of the overall intake. The preference for bees and wasps may have arisen because of the numerical abundance of these suitably sized insects. The giant honeybee is a particularly commonly eaten species. These bees attempt to congregate in a mass defence against the bee-eaters. In Israel, a European bee-eater was documented attempting to eat a small bat that it had caught, which probably couldn't fit down its throat.
Cuckoo wasp
Commonly known as cuckoo wasps or emerald wasps, the hymenopteran family Chrysididae is a very large cosmopolitan group (over 3000 described species) of parasitoid or kleptoparasitic wasps, often highly sculptured, with brilliant metallic colors created by structural coloration. They are most diverse in desert regions of the world, as they are typically associated with solitary bee and wasp species, which are also most diverse in such areas.
Bee
Behaviourally, one of the most obvious characteristics of bees is that they collect pollen to provide provisions for their young, and have the necessary adaptations to do this. However, certain wasp species such as pollen wasps have similar behaviours, and a few species of bee scavenge from carcases to feed their offspring. The world's largest species of bee is thought to be the Indonesian resin bee "Megachile pluto", whose females can attain a length of . The smallest species may be dwarf stingless bees in the tribe Meliponini whose workers are less than in length.
A bee has a pair of large compound eyes which cover much of the surface of the head. Between and above these are three small simple eyes (ocelli) which provide information for the bee on light intensity. The antennae usually have thirteen segments in males and twelve in females and are geniculate, having an elbow joint part way along. They house large numbers of sense organs that can detect touch (mechanoreceptors), smell and taste, and small, hairlike mechanoreceptors that can detect air movement so as to "hear" sounds. The mouthparts are adapted for both chewing and sucking by having both a pair of mandibles and a long proboscis for sucking up nectar.
Vespidae
The Vespidae are a large (nearly 5000 species), diverse, cosmopolitan family of wasps, including nearly all the known eusocial wasps (such as "Polistes fuscatus", "Vespa orientalis", and "Vespula germanica") and many solitary wasps. Each social wasp colony includes a queen and a number of female workers with varying degrees of sterility relative to the queen. In temperate social species, colonies usually only last one year, dying at the onset of winter. New queens and males (drones) are produced towards the end of the summer, and after mating, the queens hibernate over winter in cracks or other sheltered locations. The nests of most species are constructed out of mud, but polistines and vespines use plant fibers, chewed to form a sort of paper (also true of some stenogastrines). Many species are pollen vectors contributing to the pollination of several plants, being potential or even effective pollinators, while others are notable predators of pest insect species.
Philanthus coarctatus raptor
Philanthus coarctatus raptor, the robber philanthus, is a subspecies of bee-hunting wasp (or "beewolf") from Algeria and other parts of Northern Africa.
Ropalidia revolutionalis
Ropalidia revolutionalis
Ropalidia revolutionalis, the small brown paper wasp, is a diurnal social wasp of the family Vespidae. They are known for the distinctive combs they make for their nests, and they are mostly found in Queensland, Australia in the areas of Brisbane and Townsville. They are an independent founding wasp species, and they build new nests each spring. They can be helpful because they control insect pests in gardens. However, if threatened, they will sting humans and cause large amounts of pain.
Bethylidae
The Bethylidae are a family of aculeate wasps in the superfamily Chrysidoidea. As a family, their biology ranges between parasitoid wasps and hunting wasps.
Bee-eater
Bee-eaters are fairly indiscriminate in their choice of habitat. Their requirements are simply an elevated perch from which to watch for prey and a suitable ground substrate in which to dig their breeding burrow. Because their prey is entirely caught on the wing they are not dependent on any vegetation type. A single species, the blue-headed bee-eater, is found inside closed rainforest where it forages close to the ground in poor light in the gaps between large trees. Six other species are also closely associated with rainforest, but occur in edge habitat such as along rivers, in tree-fall gaps, off trees overhanging ravines or on emergent tree crowns above the main canopy.
Neotibicen tibicen
Cicada killer wasps frequently attack "Neotibicen" cicadas. The female wasp's keen eye scans trees and vegetation in search of prey. After locating a cicada, the wasp stings the cicada, injecting paralyzing venom. The wasp will then drag the paralyzed victim up a tree or post and fly away with it back to her nest. The cicada is buried in an underground burrow along with the wasp's eggs. The wasp's larvae emerge and feed on the living but paralyzed prey, pupate, and emerge the following spring. There is usually one generation of wasps a year.
Wasp
The roughly 140 species of beewolf (Philanthinae) hunt bees, including honeybees, to provision their nests; the adults feed on nectar and pollen.
Black bean aphid
Natural predators of black bean aphids include both adults and larvae of ladybirds and lacewings and the larvae of hoverflies. Certain species of tiny parasitic wasps lay their eggs inside aphids and the developing wasp larvae devour their hosts from inside. Members of the wasp genera "Diaeretiella" and "Lysiphlebus" behave in this way and may provide a measure of control of the aphids.
Beetle-killing wasp
It is an univoltine species. These wasps can be encountered from June through September feeding on nectar and pollen of flowers (especially on Apiaceae species).
European bee-eater
European bee-eaters have attempted to nest in Britain on at least 5 occasions:This bird breeds in open country in warmer climates. As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps, and hornets. They catch insects in flight, in sorties from an open perch. Before eating a bee, the European bee-eater removes the sting by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface. It can eat around 250 bees a day.
Poecilopompilus algidus
Observations of the nominate subspecies in southern Florida showed that the female wasps hunted in the late afternoon and that they actively hunted within the scrub and trees at heights of between 3m and 20m. The wasps hunted by actively walking on the surface of the vegetation, intermittently flicking their wings but stayed in the outer layers of leaves and did not enter into deeper cover. The only prey observed as an adult female "Eriophora ravilla" which the wasp had placed in vegetation 8 cm above the ground, while the wasp excavated a burrow 1.2m away. The burrow was excavated in bare sand among dried pine needles, the wasp used her mandibles to break the crust on the surface of the sand, and then used her forelimbs to excavate the looser sand, which was removed by the wasp backing out to a distance of 10–13 cm. Her digging activities got faster as she neared completion of the burrow, occasionally interrupting her efforts to inspect and move the prey. To move the prey it was dragged backwards over the ground and under the vegetation while the wasp held it by the base of the hind femur. before placing the spider in the nest she carried out further excavation and appeared to line the nest with dried pine needles which she carried into the burrow, then the spider was grabbed by its chelicerae and dragged into the burrow. The wasp then backfilled the burrow with loose sand using its forelegs and once the burrow was filled it appeared to tamp the sand down with its abdomen before place pine needles over the now buried nest.
Aphomia sociella
The bee moth is a pest of bumblebees, wasps, and on rare occasions even mice. Females prefer to lay their eggs in more exposed and elevated nests of various species of "Bombus" and "Vespine" wasps. It is uncommon for a bee moth to seek out nests that are closer to the ground. Because this moth is able to hide its eggs in these foreign nests, she does not have to devote any energy to parental care.
Crematogaster
Acrobat ants are known to eat different types of wasps. Many of these wasps have mutualistic relationships with trees involving pollination. Additionally, the wasps typically have cycles which they follow, which can make it difficult for them to be located and captured by the ants. As a result, acrobat ants have evolved unique characteristics to detect the presence of prey. They have become sensitive to chemical signals that are released by wasps and use these signals as cues in the location of their prey.
Wasp
While the vast majority of wasps play no role in pollination, a few species can effectively transport pollen and pollinate several plant species. Since wasps generally do not have a fur-like covering of soft hairs and a special body part for pollen storage (Pollen basket) as some bees do, pollen does not stick to them well. However it has been shown that even without hairs, several wasp species are able to effectively transport pollen, therefore contributing for potential pollination of several plant species.
Hunting wasp
In searching literature for "hunting wasps" it is prudent to include "solitary wasps" in the index terms. The two expressions have been used largely indiscriminately, especially in the very early days of modern entomology. Very few references to "hunting wasps" occur before about 1850, whereas references to "solitary wasps", though not plentiful, are not unusual.
Apis dorsata
Apis dorsata, the giant honey bee, is a honey bee of South and Southeast Asia, found mainly in forested areas such as the Terai of Nepal. They are typically around long. Nests are mainly built in exposed places far off the ground, like on tree limbs, under cliff overhangs, and sometimes on buildings. These social bees are known for their aggressive defense strategies and vicious behavior when disturbed. Indigenous peoples have traditionally used this species as a source of honey and beeswax, a practice known as honey hunting.
Bee sting
Although it is widely believed that a worker honey bee can sting only once, this is a partial misconception: although the stinger is in fact barbed so that it lodges in the victim's skin, tearing loose from the bee's abdomen and leading to its death in minutes, this only happens if the skin of the victim is sufficiently thick, such as a mammal's. Honey bees are the only hymenoptera with a strongly barbed sting, though yellow jackets and some other wasps have small barbs.
Beekeeping
There are more than 20,000 species of wild bees. Many species are solitary (e.g., mason bees, leafcutter bees (Megachilidae), carpenter bees and other ground-nesting bees). Many others rear their young in burrows and small colonies (e.g., bumblebees and stingless bees). Some honey bees are wild e.g. the little honeybee ("Apis florea"), giant honeybee ("Apis dorsata") and rock bee ("Apis laboriosa"). Beekeeping, or apiculture, is concerned with the practical management of the social species of honey bees, which live in large colonies of up to 100,000 individuals. In Europe and America the species universally managed by beekeepers is the Western honey bee ("Apis mellifera"). This species has several sub-species or regional varieties, such as the Italian bee ("Apis mellifera ligustica"), European dark bee ("Apis mellifera mellifera"), and the Carniolan honey bee ("Apis mellifera carnica"). In the tropics, other species of social bees are managed for honey production, including the Asiatic honey bee ("Apis cerana").
Bombus pensylvanicus
Although "Bombus pensylvanicus" maintains aposematic coloration and defensive stinger, it faces many predators. Predation is likely to be caused by attack to gain the resources of the hive, which contains carbohydrate and protein abundant nectar, larvae, and pollen. Predators consist of mostly mammals such as skunks, bears, and raccoons. Furthermore, bumble bees are predated on by birds for food. Foragers are frequently predated by invertebrates. Crab spiders and cryptically colored ambush bugs ambush bees at flowers to catch them. Robber flies resemble bumble bees and clasp the bumble bees, insert them with enzymes, then eat their internal organs. Wasps, such as the beewolf species "Philanthus bicinctus", intercept bees then paralyze them with venom, using them to nourish the wasp’s larvae. Assassin bugs and dragonflies are also common predators of the bee.
Wasp
The wasps are a cosmopolitan paraphyletic grouping of hundreds of thousands of species, consisting of the narrow-waisted Apocrita without the ants and bees. The Hymenoptera also contain the somewhat wasplike but unwaisted Symphyta, the sawflies.
Brood parasite
Kleptoparasitism in insects is not restricted to bees; several lineages of wasp including most of the Chrysididae, the cuckoo wasps, are kleptoparasites. The cuckoo wasps lay their eggs in the nests of other wasps, such as those of the potters and mud daubers.
Scoliidae
Scoliid wasps are solitary parasitoids of scarab beetle larvae. Female scoliids burrow into the ground in search of these larvae and then use their sting to paralyze them. They will sometimes excavate a chamber and move the paralyzed beetle larva into it before depositing an egg. Scoliid wasps act as important biocontrol agents, as many of the beetles they parasitize are pests, including the Japanese beetle. Male scoliids patrol territories, ready to mate with females emerging from the ground. Adult wasps may be minor pollinators of some plants and can he found on many wildflowers in the late summer.
Charles Robertson (entomologist)
Charles Robertson carried out what is still the single most intensive study of flower-visiting insects of a single locality, culminating in a 221-page book published in 1928 under the title Flowers and Insects. From among the specimens he collected in the process of doing this study, he named over 100 new species of bees and wasps. Scientists in 1970–1972 did a similar survey, and found that most of the bees noted by Robertson were still present. This is presumably due to the existence of bee habitat in hedgerows, on slopes, and in other non-agricultural land in the survey area. The rare bee "Andrena lauracea" is known only from these two surveys (one bee specimen each) and from two specimens from Texas. Biologists from Washington University in St Louis are currently studying changes in pollinator activity by comparing these older data sets to new data. Study was published in Science, February 2013, Plant-Pollinator Interactions over 120 Years: Loss of Species, Co-Occurrence and Function by Laura A. Burkle1, John C. Marlin, Tiffany M. Knight.[5]
Africanized bee
In central and southern Africa there was formerly no tradition of beekeeping, and the hive was destroyed in order to harvest the honey, pollen and larvae. The bees adapted to the climate of sub-Saharan Africa, including prolonged droughts. Having to defend themselves against aggressive insects such as ants and wasps, as well as voracious animals like the honey badger, African Bees evolved as a race of highly defensive bees unsuitable by a number of metrics for domestic use.
Honey bee
The sting apparatus, including the barbs, may have evolved specifically in response to predation by vertebrates, as the barbs do not usually function (and the sting apparatus does not detach) unless the sting is embedded in fleshy tissue. While the sting can also penetrate the membranes between joints in the exoskeleton of other insects (and is used in fights between queens), in the case of "Apis cerana japonica", defense against larger insects such as predatory wasps (e.g. Asian giant hornet) is usually performed by surrounding the intruder with a mass of defending worker bees, which vibrate their muscles vigorously to raise the temperature of the intruder to a lethal level ("balling"). Previously, heat alone was thought to be responsible for killing intruding wasps, but recent experiments have demonstrated the increased temperature in combination with increased carbon dioxide levels within the ball produce the lethal effect. This phenomenon is also used to kill a queen perceived as intruding or defective, an action known to beekeepers as 'balling the queen', named for the ball of bees formed.
Green bee-eater
Like other species in the genus, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and ants, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. Before swallowing prey, a bee-eater removes stings and breaks the exoskeleton of the prey by repeatedly thrashing it on the perch. Migration is not known but they make seasonal movements in response to rainfall. These birds are somewhat sluggish in the mornings and may be found huddled next to each other on wires sometimes with their bills tucked in their backs well after sunrise. They sand-bathe more frequently than other bee-eater species and will sometimes bathe in water by dipping into water in flight. They are usually seen in small groups and often roost communally in large numbers (200-300). The birds move excitedly at the roost site and call loudly, often explosively dispersing before settling back to the roost tree.
The little green bee-eater is also becoming common in urban and sub-urban neighborhoods, and has been observed perching on television antennae, only to launch into a brief, zig-zag flight formation to catch an insect, then return to the same perch and consume the meal. This behaviour is generally observed between the hours of 7:00 and 8:00am, and after 4:00pm.
White-throated bee-eater
White-throated bee-eaters also feed and roost communally. As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, which are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. However, this species probably takes mainly flying ants and beetles.
Wasp
Some species of parasitic wasp, especially in the Trichogrammatidae, are exploited commercially to provide biological control of insect pests. For example, in Brazil, farmers control sugarcane borers with the parasitic wasp "Trichogramma galloi". One of the first species to be used was "Encarsia formosa", a parasitoid of a range of species of whitefly. It entered commercial use in the 1920s in Europe, was overtaken by chemical pesticides in the 1940s, and again received interest from the 1970s. "Encarsia" is used especially in greenhouses to control whitefly pests of tomato and cucumber, and to a lesser extent of aubergine (eggplant), flowers such as marigold, and strawberry. Several species of parasitic wasp are natural predators of aphids and can help to control them. For instance, "Aphidius matricariae" is used to control the peach-potato aphid.
Worker bee
Guard bees will stand at the front of the hive entrance, defending it from any invaders such as wasps. The number of guards varies from season to season and from species to species. Entrance size and daily traffic also play an integral role in the number of guard bees present.
Guard bees of the species "Tetragonisca angustula" and "Schwarziana quadripunctata" are examples of eusocial bees that have been observed hovering at their nest entrances, providing more protection against intruders.
Wasp
The largest social wasp is the Asian giant hornet, at up to in length. The various tarantula hawk wasps are of a similar size and can overpower a spider many times its own weight, and move it to its burrow, with a sting that is excruciatingly painful to humans. The solitary giant scoliid, "Megascolia procer", with a wingspan of 11.5 cm, has subspecies in Sumatra and Java; it is a parasitoid of the Atlas beetle "Chalcosoma atlas". The female giant ichneumon wasp "Megarhyssa macrurus" is long including its very long but slender ovipositor which is used for boring into wood and inserting eggs. The smallest wasps are solitary chalcid wasps in the family Mymaridae, including the world's smallest known insect, "Dicopomorpha echmepterygis" (139 micrometres long) and "Kikiki huna" with a body length of only 158 micrometres, the smallest known flying insect.
Vespula vulgaris
Research indicates the wasps use odor to identify and attack rival wasps from other colonies, and nest odor frequently changes. "V. vulgaris" wasps have been observed aggressively competing with honey bees for the honeydew secreted by the scale insect "Ultracoelostoma brittini" in New Zealand's South Island black beech forests.
Beetle-killing wasp
The beetle-killing wasp, "Tiphia femorata", is a species of wasps belonging to the family Tiphiidae, subfamily Tiphiinae.
Tea (wasp)
Tea a genus of the spider hunting wasps belonging to the family Pompilidae. "Tea" may be a subgenus of "Eoferreola" Arnold 1935
Bee
Bees may be solitary or may live in various types of communities. Eusociality appears to have originated from at least three independent origins in halictid bees. The most advanced of these are species with eusocial colonies; these are characterised by having cooperative brood care and a division of labour into reproductive and non-reproductive adults, plus overlapping generations. This division of labour creates specialized groups within eusocial societies which are called castes. In some species, groups of cohabiting females may be sisters, and if there is a division of labour within the group, they are considered semisocial. The group is called eusocial if, in addition, the group consists of a mother (the queen) and her daughters (workers). When the castes are purely behavioural alternatives, with no morphological differentiation other than size, the system is considered primitively eusocial, as in many paper wasps; when the castes are morphologically discrete, the system is considered highly eusocial.
Polistes annularis
Polistes annularis ("P. annularis") is a species of paper wasp which lives throughout the Caribbean and in parts of North America. Its species name is Latin for "ringed" and it is known for its distinct red body color. It builds its nest under overhangs near bodies of water that minimize the amount of sunlight penetration. It clusters its nests together in large aggregations, and consumes nectar and other insects. Its principal predator is the ant, although birds are also known to prey on it. It is a primitively eusocial wasp, meaning that all individuals develop the capacity for reproduction, regardless of social caste. This primitive eusociality has been seen in bees as well, including the sweat bee, "Lasioglossum zephyrum". As such, "P. annularis" demonstrates behavior typical of other polistine wasps, and has a dominance hierarchy, relatively small colony size, and a female-biased sex ratio. Unlike other wasps, "P. annularis" is relatively robust in winter conditions, and has also been observed to store honey in advance of hibernation. It is closely related to "P. major, P. buysonni," and others in the subgenus Aphanilopterus, and slightly less related to the more common "P. bellicosus, P. carolina, P. metricus," and "P. fuscatus".
Asian giant hornet
"V. mandarinia" is the only species of social wasp known to apply a scent to direct its colony to a food source. The wasp secretes the chemical from the sixth sternal gland, also known as van der Vecht's gland. This behavior is observed during autumnal raids after the hornets begin hunting in groups instead of individually. The ability to apply scents may have arisen because the wasp relies heavily on honeybee colonies as its main food source. A single wasp is unable to take on an entire colony of bees because species such as "Apis cerana" have a well-organized defense mechanism. Honeybees swarm one wasp and flutter their wings to heat up the wasp and raise carbon dioxide to a lethal level. So, organized attacks are much more effective and easily devastate a colony of tens of thousands of honeybees.
Bumblebeewolf
The bumblebeewolf ("Philanthus bicinctus") is a species of bee-hunting wasp (or "beewolf") of North America.
Little bee-eater
These are abundant and tame birds, familiar throughout their range. There have been estimated to be between 60-80 million little bee-eaters. They breed in open country with bushes, preferably near water. Just as the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps and hornets, who are caught in the air by sorties from an open perch. This species often hunts from low perches, maybe only a metre or less high. Before eating their meal, a bee-eater removes the sting by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface.
Hunting wasp
Hunting wasps are members of various taxa of the insect order Hymenoptera. Their habits and affinities vary in many ways, but all practise parental care of their larvae in that they capture prey, usually insects, to feed their larvae. Whether solitary or social, most species construct some form of protection or nest in which they hide the prey and in which the larvae can feed and pupate in reasonable security.
Wasp
The most commonly known wasps, such as yellowjackets and hornets, are in the family Vespidae and are eusocial, living together in a nest with an egg-laying queen and non-reproducing workers. Eusociality is favoured by the unusual haplodiploid system of sex determination in Hymenoptera, as it makes sisters exceptionally closely related to each other. However, the majority of wasp species are solitary, with each adult female living and breeding independently. Females typically have an ovipositor for laying eggs in or near a food source for the larvae, though in the Aculeata the ovipositor is often modified instead into a sting used for defense or prey capture. Wasps play many ecological roles. Some are predators or pollinators, whether to feed themselves or to provision their nests. Many, notably the cuckoo wasps, are kleptoparasites, laying eggs in the nests of other wasps. Many of the solitary wasps are parasitoidal, meaning they lay eggs on or in other insects (any life stage from egg to adult) and often provision their own nests with such hosts. Unlike true parasites, the wasp larvae eventually kill their hosts. Solitary wasps parasitize almost every pest insect, making wasps valuable in horticulture for biological pest control of species such as whitefly in tomatoes and other crops.
Protopolybia chartergoides
Common insects that prey on wasps include praying mantises, dragonflies, centipedes, beetles and moths. In fact, large wasps will even prey on smaller wasps. Spiders will also capture wasps in their webs and eat them. Predatory reptiles and amphibians, such as frogs, lizards, toads, and salamanders see the wasp as just another opportunistic meal and do not differentiate them from other insects, despite their feared sting. Birds that regularly consume bugs will also eat wasps. Other creatures that eat wasps, particularly mammals, are more interested in the larvae rather than the adults.
Wasp
Most solitary wasps are parasitoids. As adults, those that do feed typically only take nectar from flowers. Parasitoid wasps are extremely diverse in habits, many laying their eggs in inert stages of their host (egg or pupa), sometimes paralysing their prey by injecting it with venom through their ovipositor. They then insert one or more eggs into the host or deposit them upon the outside of the host. The host remains alive until the parasitoid larvae pupate or emerge as adults.
Polybia sericea
When workers hunt for arthropods, they fly from side to side about half a meter off of the ground. Visual cues are used to determine where to search for prey, whereas olfactory cues are used to determine that prey is near, and elicit landing. Green and brown caterpillars are the most common prey for "P. sericea". Once a caterpillar or other insect has been found, workers bite the insect behind the head. They will then drag the prey up onto a twig or a piece of grass, or will sometimes fly the insect to a different location; they do this in order to keep ants or other insects from stealing their prey. Once the insect is in a safe location, the wasp will malaxate the prey, or soften it by mixing it with a thinner substance, presumably saliva. The worker will then bring what it can back to the nest to feed other individuals. If prey is too large to bring back to the nest, foragers will leave the prey, and fly in side to side arcs back to the nest to recruit other workers to help carry the load.
Cheating (biology)
Eusocial insects also serve as valuable tools in studying cheating. Eusocial insects behave cooperatively, where members of the community forgo reproduction to assist a few individuals to reproduce. Such model systems have potential for conflict of interest to arise among individuals, and thus also have potential for cheating to occur. Eusocial insects in the order Hymenoptera, which includes bees and wasps, exhibit good examples of conflicts of interest present in insect societies. In these systems, queen bees and wasps can mate and lay fertilized eggs that hatch into females. On the other hand, workers of most species in Hymenoptera can produce eggs, but cannot produce fertilized eggs due to loss of mating ability. Workers that lay eggs represent a cost for the colony because workers that lay eggs often do significantly less work, and thus negatively impact the health of the colony (for example: decreased amount of collected food, or less attention given to tending the queen's eggs). In this case, a conflict of interest arises between the workers and the colony. The workers should lay eggs in order to pass on their genes; however, as a colony, having only the queen reproduce leads to better productivity. If workers sought to pass their own genes by laying eggs, foraging activities would diminish, leading to decreased resources for the entire colony. This, in turn, can cause a tragedy of the commons, where selfish behavior lead to the depletion of resources, with long-term negative consequences for the group. However, in natural bee and wasp societies, only 0.01–0.1% and 1%, respectively, of the workers lay eggs, suggesting that strategies exist to combat cheating to prevent tragedy of the commons. These insect systems have given scientists opportunities to study strategies that keep cheating in check. Such strategies are commonly referred to as "policing" strategies, generally where additional costs are imposed on cheaters to discourage or eliminate cheating behaviors. For example, honeybees and wasps may eat eggs produced by workers. In some ant species and yellowjackets, policing may occur via aggression towards or killing egg-laying individuals to minimize cheating.
Bee rustling
Bee rustling is a crime involving the theft of honey bees. It has been known to occur in Western Canada and the Western United States, as with cattle rustling, also in the United Kingdom. A 2014 theft in California was valued at $65,000 and a December 2016 theft of 300 bee colonies in Texas was valued at $90,000. Bees and honey worth $100,000 were stolen from a farm in Abbotsford, British Columbia in 2012. The California State Beekeepers Association offers a $10,000 reward for information resulting in the arrest and conviction of a bee rustler.
European beewolf
Female European beewolves excavate their burrows in sandy soil or in vertical soil faces in open sunny places and these can be up to a metre in length with no less than three and as many as 34 short side tunnels at the end, each of which contains a brood cell. The material displaced by the burrowing wasp is flicked behind it as it excavates the nest. They nest in aggregations which may have as many as 15,000 burrows. The females hunt honeybees "Apis mellifera", which are paralyzed with the sting, the female stinging the prey through the articular membranes which are situated behind the front legs, the female then carries the immobilised bee to the nest in flight between the wasp's legs. On reaching the nest she often hovers over the entrance before slowly descending into the burrow. Each brood cell is provisioned with between one and five honeybees for the larva. After the larva has fed sufficiently it spins a cocoon, the cocoon is attached to the wall of the brood cell at its base. In cooler regions the larva overwinters and the adults emerge the following summer. Other species of bee, other than honeybees, have been reported as prey including "Andrena flavipes", "Lasioglossum zonulus" and "Nomada sp" in Britain as well as bees of the genera "Dasypoda", "Halictus" and "Megachile" in continental Europe. Each female may collect up to 100 bees during its flight period.
Spider wasp
Spider wasps are solitary wasps that use a single spider as a host for feeding their larvae. They paralyze the spider with a venomous stinger. Once paralyzed, the spider is dragged to where a nest will be builtsome wasps having already made a nest. A single egg is laid on the abdomen of the spider, and the nest or burrow is closed. Spider wasps protect their nests by putting dead ants into the outermost chamber, the chemicals within deterring predators.
The size of the host can influence whether the wasp's egg will develop as a male or a female; larger prey yield the (larger) females. A complex set of adult behaviors can then occur, such as spreading soil or inspecting the area, leaving the nest site inconspicuous. When the wasp larva hatches, it begins to feed on the still-living spider. After consuming the edible parts of the spider, the larva spins a silk cocoon and pupates, usually emerging as an adult the next summer. Some ceropalines lay the egg on a still-active spider, where it feeds externally on hemolymph. In time, that spider will die, and the mature wasp larva will then pupate.
Aphomia sociella
Aphomia sociella, also known as the bee moth and the bumble bee wax moth, is a small moth of the family Pyralidae (snout moths) and subfamily Galleriinae. Its body and forewings are typically reddish brown, tan, or dark green in color and females have a dark spot in the center of each forewing. The bee moth is native to Europe and are named "bee moths" because they seek out nests of bees and wasps to lay their eggs. "Aphomia" "sociella" are considered a pest because the bee moth larvae severely damage commercial bee hives. Bee moths are also studied for their unique mating ritual which includes a release of pheromones from both the male and the female along with an ultrasonic signal emitted through the male’s tymbals.
Beagling
In the UK and Ireland, the traditional quarry of beagle packs has been the hare. In the UK, the brown hare was hunted, whereas in Ireland the Irish hare is hunted. It was estimated that before the Hunting Act 2004 beagle packs in the UK collectively caught 1,650 hares per season, meaning each pack caught 20 hares. That Act banned hare hunting in its traditional style, like fox hunting, in England and Wales. It bans the hunting of most wild mammals (including hares) with certain exemptions, which include the retrieval of hares that have been shot.
Bee
Bees range in size from tiny stingless bee species whose workers are less than long, to "Megachile pluto", the largest species of leafcutter bee, whose females can attain a length of . The most common bees in the Northern Hemisphere are the Halictidae, or sweat bees, but they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies. Vertebrate predators of bees include birds such as bee-eaters; insect predators include beewolves and dragonflies.
Artificial bee colony algorithm
A set of honey bees, called swarm, can successfully accomplish tasks through social cooperation. In the ABC algorithm, there are three types of bees: employed bees, onlooker bees, and scout bees. The employed bees search food around the food source in their memory; meanwhile they share the information of these food sources to the onlooker bees. The onlooker bees tend to select good food sources from those found by the employed bees. The food source that has higher quality (fitness) will have a large chance to be selected by the onlooker bees than the one of lower quality. The scout bees are translated from a few employed bees, which abandon their food sources and search new ones.