Thread subject: Diptera.info :: parasite pupal case

Posted by PollinatorParadise on 20-12-2008 22:40
#1

Does anyone know who makes the pupal case attached to this blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria, cocoon? The cocoons came from a managed bee population in southern Oregon. Bee researchers at the USDA ARS bee labs in Logan UT suggest a bombyliid, tachinid, or conopid, but no one knows for sure. The cocoons were removed from inside a bee nest in a straw, so I expect the fly would have laid it's egg in the bee cell last spring while the bee nest was under construction. (The parasite is the dark cocoon on the left, in case that's not obvious)

Edited by PollinatorParadise on 20-12-2008 22:43