Pale Blood. Blood Bee, Sphecodes sp., Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
It's called a Blood Bee. But that's a reference only to its color. Bee blood is very different from that of vertebrates like ourselves (even that of Frogs!). Our blood in varying shades of red carries oxygen to burn sugars and give us energy. Bee blood doesn't transport gases like oxygen, only nutrients and such. Oxygen is supplied to our flying beastie through spiracles and tracheal tubes. Moreover, Bees don't have veins and arteries; their pale blood circulates freely within that exoskeleton.
'Ah!', you might object! 'When I kill a fly the death patch is reddish!' Well, that color in fact comes from its eyes not its blood. And the red of squashed mosquitoes is, of course, our own blood.
So 'Blood Bee' merely in a metaphorical sense.
Here it's on Oenanthe crocata, Water Dropwort, just now coming into flower in the Hortus. It can be used for Bloodless Death... (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/27499241967/in/photoli...).
Pale Blood. Blood Bee, Sphecodes sp., Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
It's called a Blood Bee. But that's a reference only to its color. Bee blood is very different from that of vertebrates like ourselves (even that of Frogs!). Our blood in varying shades of red carries oxygen to burn sugars and give us energy. Bee blood doesn't transport gases like oxygen, only nutrients and such. Oxygen is supplied to our flying beastie through spiracles and tracheal tubes. Moreover, Bees don't have veins and arteries; their pale blood circulates freely within that exoskeleton.
'Ah!', you might object! 'When I kill a fly the death patch is reddish!' Well, that color in fact comes from its eyes not its blood. And the red of squashed mosquitoes is, of course, our own blood.
So 'Blood Bee' merely in a metaphorical sense.
Here it's on Oenanthe crocata, Water Dropwort, just now coming into flower in the Hortus. It can be used for Bloodless Death... (www.flickr.com/photos/87453322@N00/27499241967/in/photoli...).