Pretty Parasite - _TNY_2298
Cuckoo bumblebees behave pretty much like the birds from which they've borrowed their name in that the females lay their eggs in the burrows of other species of bumblebees. They often resemble the particular species they parasitize on.
The red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius is parasitized by the red-tailed cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus rupestris), also known as the hill cuckoo bee. One way to spot the parasite is that the females of B. rupestris have much darker wings than B. lapidarius.
This one haven't got the dark wings - but it is still a B. rupestris. Do you notice the orange hairs on the middle pair of legs here? That tells us this is a male red-tailed cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus rupestris).
The wonderfully purple flower which has gotten it covered in pollen is a dense blazing star (Liatris spicata) - a flower with many names, inluding button snakewort, florist gayfeather, marsh blazingstar and prairie-pine.
Pretty Parasite - _TNY_2298
Cuckoo bumblebees behave pretty much like the birds from which they've borrowed their name in that the females lay their eggs in the burrows of other species of bumblebees. They often resemble the particular species they parasitize on.
The red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius is parasitized by the red-tailed cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus rupestris), also known as the hill cuckoo bee. One way to spot the parasite is that the females of B. rupestris have much darker wings than B. lapidarius.
This one haven't got the dark wings - but it is still a B. rupestris. Do you notice the orange hairs on the middle pair of legs here? That tells us this is a male red-tailed cuckoo bumblebee (Bombus rupestris).
The wonderfully purple flower which has gotten it covered in pollen is a dense blazing star (Liatris spicata) - a flower with many names, inluding button snakewort, florist gayfeather, marsh blazingstar and prairie-pine.