Anatomically unusual, leucospid wasps have their egg-laying tube called an ovipositor slung over the back. M. J. Raupp
In previous episodes we visited delightful mason bees as they made an early debut and foraged for nectar and pollen to provision their nests inside cardboard tubes and galleried firewood in a mason bee colony. Tiny bee larvae will spend the next several months completing development before pupating in their chambers come fall, but right now all is not well in the realm of mason bees. Enemies are afoot. For the past several weeks, gangs of noisy yellow and black insects, leucospid wasps, have been carefully inspecting the modular condominiums of my mason bee colony. Leucospids are generally considered rare insects, but each year the tubular homes and woody tunnels housing mason bees attract scads of these parasites.
My mason bee condominium of cardboard tubes and galleries in wood provides homes for hundreds of mason bees to raise their young. But as spring turns to summer, danger arrives. Bee babies are hunted by clever leucospid wasps. With antennae tapping, a female leucospid wasp searches a mason bee log for clues to locate potential victims within. Once the bee larvae are located, she unsheathes the ovipositor and drills into the log to lay her eggs. In slow motion, watch as she unfolds her ovipositor and pirouettes on tip toes to drill into the wood. After depositing her eggs in the brood chamber, she pulls her ovipositor out and prepares to locate the next victim.
Leucospids are rather unique in the wasp world. Unlike most of their kin with rear-facing or under-slung egg-laying tubes called ovipositors, leucospids carry their ovipositor arched up and over their back. The small yellow and black wasps move back and forth across the surface of the mason bee’s tubes and wooden lodgings tapping gently with their antennae and drumming with their abdomen. This behavior has been noted in other species of leucospids and is likely how the female wasp evaluates where the bee larvae reside and, perhaps, the suitability of the mason bees as a meal for her young. If the female leucospid likes what she finds, she uses her remarkable ovipositor to penetrate the cardboard tubes or my tough oak logs. She deposits eggs inside the cells of the developing mason bees. It is fascinating to watch the female wasps insert her ovipositor into mason bee galleries in search of bee larvae to serve as food for her young. After a few days, the wasp’s eggs hatch into voracious larvae that feed as ectoparasites attached to the outside of the bee larvae. Larvae of the parasitic wasps complete development and emerge as adults to find a mate and search for more victims.
These parasitic wasp larvae brought an end to mason bee babies on which they fed. M. J. Raupp.
I pondered the peril of my mason bee colony and soon realized that many of my hard-working bees would be spared from the treacherous leucospid wasp. When it comes to attacking bee larvae hidden in tubes, size does matter. The ovipositor of the leucospid wasp is only long enough to penetrate the outermost tubes of my modular mason bee condominium. Likewise, holes drilled in the center of my mason bee logs will remain unscathed. The vast majority of mason bees sheltered therein are well beyond the reach of leucospid’s dangerous egg-laying appendage. While some mason bee aficionados might cover their bee condominiums with netting to prevent parasitism, I let nature take its course. Rare leucospids are magnificent in their own way and part of the circle of life in the realm of insects.
References
Two interesting articles, “Parasitic Behavior of Leucospis cayennensis Westwood (Hymenoptera: Leucospidae) and Rates of Parasitism in Populations of Centris (Heterocentris) analis (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Centridini)” by Ana Lúcia Gazola and Carlos Alberto Garófalo, and “Osmia ribifloris, a Native Bee Species Developed as a Commercially Managed Pollinator of Highbush Blueberry (Hymenoptera:Megachilidae)” by P. F. Torchio, were used as references for this episode.