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Parasitic bees, otherwise known as cuckoo bees, do not forage for food or make nests for themselves, instead they invade the nests and food supplies of other species of bees, particularly Solitary bees, to provide for their parasitic young.
There are two types of parasitic bee, cleptoparasitic bees and social parasites. The cleptoparasite queens simply lay eggs in finished but unused cells in other queens' nests then leave the young to be cared for by the host colony. Often the parasite queen or her larvae will kill larvae of the host queen. Social parasites are bees that kill the resident queen, lay their own eggs in the hosts cells, and then force the hosts workers to raise the young parasitic bees.
The scientific family is Megachilidae, sub families Fideliinae and Megachilinae. Some of the genera are Anthidium, Coelioxys, Heriades, Hoplitis, Megachile, Osmia, and Stelis.

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15y ago

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