Cheating Bees
Photograph by Dino Martins
It turns out that in nature there are lots of cheaters. Here a tiny stingless bee waits patiently on an eggplant flower as a Nomia bee approaches. The Nomia
bee has the capability and strength to buzz pollinate this specialized
flower. This involves the bee holding the flower in its "teeth"
(mandibles) and vibrating it at a specific frequency using its wing
muscles. Only then is pollen released. As the stingless bee is too puny
to do this, it simply waits and then steals pollen that spills out after
the Nomia bee has buzzed the flower.
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