Bee Armament - _TNY_0634
This is a male European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) on a hairy leaf of a lamb's-ear (Stachys byzantina).
Now this is not at all as close up as my usual shots, but there is an interesting thing in it.
You see, the females of this species used plant hair for their nests and the males know this and set up territories around suitable plants - the lamb's ear is ideal. Then they patrol there and chase off everything that isn't a female of the same species and the females he (rapidly) mate with in exchange for harvesting "his" plants.
When you chase stuff away, size matters so evolution has made the males of this species larger than the females, something which is rare among bees.
Some sort of weapon can also come in handy with his job description so a stinger would be nice. But stingers are modified ovipositors (ie for laying eggs) and those are lady parts. No male bee/wasp/bumblebee has those.
Well, zoom in on his abdomen and you can see that these have developed hard spikes on the edge of the abdomen (three of the five are showing here) which he swings as weapons agains intruders.
For a shot of a male and female mating, have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52369460228/
Bee Armament - _TNY_0634
This is a male European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) on a hairy leaf of a lamb's-ear (Stachys byzantina).
Now this is not at all as close up as my usual shots, but there is an interesting thing in it.
You see, the females of this species used plant hair for their nests and the males know this and set up territories around suitable plants - the lamb's ear is ideal. Then they patrol there and chase off everything that isn't a female of the same species and the females he (rapidly) mate with in exchange for harvesting "his" plants.
When you chase stuff away, size matters so evolution has made the males of this species larger than the females, something which is rare among bees.
Some sort of weapon can also come in handy with his job description so a stinger would be nice. But stingers are modified ovipositors (ie for laying eggs) and those are lady parts. No male bee/wasp/bumblebee has those.
Well, zoom in on his abdomen and you can see that these have developed hard spikes on the edge of the abdomen (three of the five are showing here) which he swings as weapons agains intruders.
For a shot of a male and female mating, have a look here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52369460228/