[Pollinator] Neon Cuckoo Bee

[Peter Bernhardt]

Tomorrow I give a 1 hour lecture at the wildflower garden on flower and
flowering stem anatomy.  It's part of the this garden's "walks and talks"
series.  During the lecture the people who sign up can observe and dissect
fret specimens so went to the wildflower garden this morning to collect
some stems in bloom.

While looking for Crowea flowers (Rutaceae) Dr Ren let out a yell.  He
found this beautiful male bee at around 11 AM sleeping it off.  This may
seem late in the day for solitary males to be dull and dormant but it's
autumn here now, very cool and the sky was overcast and drizzly.

Meet the Neon Cuckoo bee, Thyreus nitidulus in the family, Apidae.  I've
seen photos but never thought I'd encounter one alive but sluggish.  Note
that when Ren changed the angle of the camera it effected the natural
iridescence of the bee's surface. This species has an interesting Wiki.
They are parasitic bees, hence the cuckoo name.  Females lay eggs in the
burrows of blue banded bees (Amegilla).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyreus_nitidulus

Philip Grimm fiddled with the stem to take a better close up but Sleeping
Beauty flew off.  Too bad for you, Gerardo and Sam. This is another one
you're not going to get.

Peter
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