Author Gary Taylor ◦
Another Meroglossa rubricata in my BeeTown, not entirely sure what she’s doing. When I first saw her I thought she was a new one emerging from her nest for the first time (tho’ I don’t recall seeing one nesting in this part of BeeTown before), poking her head in and out of the hole, ducking back inside every time she saw me… so I snuck off to the side thinking I might be able to film her fully emerging…
Turns out she’s not, she’s lining the inside of the entrance with secretions from her mouth (as all Hylaeines do) like she would if she was capping off a finished nest, but that’s always done from the outside and she hasn’t been there long enough to finish a nest yet… so all I can think is that she is either coating the rough entrance to make it smoother or she’s making the entrance smaller, perhaps cosier now we are getting cooler nights…
Author Gary Taylor
A bit of a follow up from my vid of the Meroglossa rubricata that was lining and building up the entrance to her nest a day or so back. I wondered at the time if it was soften the rough texture of the bamboo, or perhaps (as she seemed to be making the entrance smaller) it was to make it a bit cosier now that we’re getting cooler nights…
It would also make it harder for tiny parasitic wasps to sneak in too, you can see how snuggly it fits her in the first pic… Or perhaps it was because she was having friends over for a house warming party and wanted to make a good impression…
The first pic shows the almost affectionate greeting of the first bee friend to arrive. The host has her antennae (which are great indicators when reading their body language) folded right back over her head as she reaches up to the newcomer and I had to wonder if this was just a regular greeting smooch or if she is perhaps receiving a gift of nectar from her new guest… And if she did, perhaps it wasn’t a gift so much as a map, telling her which flowering tree the others were hanging out at, because right after this pic the host flew off and the guest made herself at home.
Minutes later, the host returned with a couple more friends following behind and popped inside to tell the first guest the others had arrived. That’s her bum still in the entrance in the second pic as the latest friend to arrive lands on the one just landed.
At first I thought maybe it was a hens party and they’d organised a stripper, but no the one that landed on the other was female too, the stripper must be coming later. I think she was just in a hurry to get in, maybe drank a little too much nectar and needed to use the bathroom…
Dunno for sure but in the third pic, standing at the entrance still trying to get in, the girl she landed on now has one foot pressed against her face and another on her side holding her back, “I was here first, you can wait in line!..” Maybee the stripper had already arrived?
I guess I’ll never know, but it was good to see them get together, I hope they had a good night.
Check out the other blogs in this Meroglossa rubricata series:
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
See our Fauna section on Bees for more info on our gorgeous Meroglossa rubricata.
Footnote & References
- Blogs by Gary Taylor, Images © Gary Taylor