“Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.”
The sounds of a blue orchid bee’s wings break the silence on a warm, sunny afternoon. She’s a female bee, and she’s looking for a bright flower. Bright flowers mean nectar!
She sees a blue flower, and zooms towards it! Shes’ attracted to the bright blue color, and lands carefully on the edge of the flower. She collects the nectar, and flies off.
A pink flower catches her eye, and she flies towards that! Landing, she crawls inside and begins suckling up the nectar eagerly!
Then, quite suddenly, a little pink spider lunges out and fastens it’s jaws onto the little bee! It was camouflaged to the pink flower! She struggles to free herself, but cannot.
The spider drags away her body, and she is eaten. The spider then waits for it’s next stupid and unlucky victim to land…
The blue orchid bee, the scientific name being “Osmia Lignaria“, lives from Mexico all the way down to the furthest points of Brazil. They like to live in forests and rain-forests across the countries!
Unlike most other bees, blue orchid bees do not live in colonies. In fact, the males live by just drinking nectar from flowers, and don’t have a permanent “home”. Females, however, live inside small holes in dead or dying trees, and this is where they later lay their eggs!
Blue orchid bees, like all orchid bees, are different from other bees because of their much-thinner and longer tongues, (which, when stretched out, can be twice the length of the body), and their shiny colors, which often look like metal. The blue orchid-bees are different from other orchids because of, well, their color; blue! They are slightly smaller then normal honey bees. The stings from them are quite painful, but they are rarely seen because they live deep inside the forests!
The blue orchid bees feed on thousands of different kinds of wild plants and flowers inside the forests, where they live. However, if they live in orchards, people welcome them because they are excellent pollinators! They pollinate pears, plums, cherries, apples and many other fruit-trees!
The “normal” animals hunt orchid bees. Lizards, hundreds of types of songbirds, other birds, like water-birds, kestrels and other birds of prey, many types of frogs, and some insects like wasps and praying mantises, and also certain types of spiders. Raccoons and opossums also commonly eat them. They will also eat the baby-bee larvae.
The blue orchid bee lives normally about 3-5 months! A short lifespan!
Males find females by creating certain smells in the air that the females are attracted to. Once the females come, the males mate. The female then goes to her “nest” and begins to work. She builds a “mini nest” for each of her eggs, lining each with pollen and nectar that her young can eat. She then lays one egg in each one. By the end, she will have laid only 2-3 eggs. Every day, she lays that amount until she dies.
Once the larvae hatch, they eat the pollen. As they pupate, they finish off the pollen. Once they finally hatch into the world, they leave to find food… and also a mate!
Thanks for reading!
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