Author Gary Taylor ◦
Meroglossa rubricata, part 3, Changing the rules again… Ruby doesn’t always just take her love to town, sometimes the party continues on back at her place 😃
Righto, I gotta say straight up, perhaps this is normal amongst native bees and I’ve just never seen it ever, but I doubt it… but the more science minded might find this interesting… 😅
Ok, first up, the pics are out of order, I just wanted the one with the three males to be “the big pic” 😄, but what actually happened was I watched as a male (2nd pic) took up residence with a couple of chicks, nothing unusual, seen it before with Ruby… Bloke shacks up with her for a week or so… But this time the guy (or maybe Ruby?) also invited a couple of his mates… So, 1st pic, three “close” mates and two girls in one nest… Let the implication of that sink in… 😄
The last pic is Ruby comin’ out for air, a few days later… One antenna swept back, the other forward but a bit ruffled… doing her best Norma Jean… 😅 I can’t help but think she’s been skinny dipping in the gene pool… 😆 Hedging her bets maybe? Strongest genes win? Or maybe she’s like a cumquat, just a little tarte… 😆 Dunno, but again I reckon there’s more to these bees than we have any idea about and cumquat may, I’m determined to figure it out… 😅
Photographs – Geraldton, Midwest WA © Gary Taylor
Check out the Gary’s other blogs about the Meroglossa rubricata:
an awesome “Commando roll” | Ruby… bubbling | Ruby and the wasp | Party at the nest | red is the weakest, the first to fade in low light | A white bubble | multicrystaline polyinverted refractionism… | suddenly something bigger came torpedoing out of the nest… | running out of room to add new apartments… | She lives on in her chosen nest protecting the family she’s raising | the young emerge | Changing the rules again…
See our Fauna section on Bees for more info on our gorgeous Meroglossa rubricata.
Check out more blogs and contribution by Gary Taylor.