What are cuckoo bumble bees?
Just like cuckoo birds, bumble bees have cuckoo bees that look very similar to bumble bees and take over their nests. Cuckoo bumble bees are a subgenus of Bombus (true bumble bees) of the species Psithyrus. In some species the psithyrus female cohabits with the true bumblebee queen, but in other the host queen is killed by the psithyrus female. When a psithyrus female enters the bumble bee nest, she hides in the nest material for several hours until she picks up the nest smell and is accepted by the bumble bees when she emerges from hiding. The Psithyrus bee follows the bumble bee queen around eating any eggs she lays, before laying her own eggs.
