![]() They could be attacked by predators, lose their way back home, get caught in a wind storm, fall victim to diseases or pesticides in the environment, or any number of other dangers. Outside the nest foragers are exposed to all the dangers of the outside world. This is because foraging is one of the most dangerous tasks in the colony. Forager bees leave the nest and collect nectar, pollen and water.Īdult honey bee foragers will usually live another 30 days after they begin foraging, about 51 days in total. The last task a honey bee worker performs is foraging. Usually after a few weeks inside the nest, workers will transition to outside tasks and take their first flight. How long each bee works at a certain job will change depending upon the needs of the colony. Young bees also produce wax from glands on their abdomens and build all of the structures you see in the nest. Young honey bee workers first do tasks inside the nest like take care of the queen and young larvae. These workers change the tasks they do as they age-kind of how we change what we do as we get older: first we stay at home, then we go to school and then work. The larvae of this species will grow up to be squirming horrors known as rat-tailed maggots, as shown here.All honey bee workers are female. Others are strange limpet-like larvae that live in ant colonies. But the one hanging out at the bucket would be interested in raising its young in the nasty water bucket. ![]() ![]() The more familiar examples are the larvae that live as predators on aphids, as shown here. sweat bees, hoverflies, and drone flies, have larvae that grow up in a wide range of circumstances. Members of the large family of Syrphid flies, a.k.a. The bucket of water had an interesting visitor one day in the form of this bee-mimicking Syrphid fly ( Mallota posticata), and this prompts a wider story. Here is an early effort, photographed through the glass of a pancake aquarium that I had made from a couple glass picture frames. I was keeping a bucket of foul water in the back yard to harvest mosquito larvae from it to attempt photography of mosquito larvae. Since this big fly was not inclined to fly off, it seems suspicious that it had only recently emerged from the hole. There was a carpenter bee hole on the shed nearby (the bees are destructive that way), and it had a weird pupa case sticking out of the entrance. Tiger bee flies are the largest member of the bee fly family, and they are parasites of large carpenter bees. Next is this lovely tiger bee fly, Xenox tigrinus, that was sitting on our house. It is always good to keep an eye on this kind of action, and sure enough it soon dashed off and returned with a click beetle. From its perch it would rapidly swivel its head around to look for something else to go after (it’s pretty weird when they do that). This one was frequently flying out from its perch to chase a passing insect before returning empty-handed to its spot. Next is a predatory robber fly ( Laphria flavicollis). Most don’t let one approach too closely, but this one did. The theme is flies.įirst up is a gold-backed snipe fly ( Chrysopilus thoracicus). If you have spare time this weekend, you might think of gathering some good wildlife photos and sending them in. Mark’s notes and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. Good old Mark Sturtevant (he’s not that old) has come through with a batch of photos for us, mainly FLIES (my and Matthew’s favorite insect).
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