Allodape
For most of us, our thoughts about bees begin and end with the honeybee and, perhaps, the very large carpenter and bumble bees. Certainly, mine did, not so long ago. In fact, bees are rich in species and can be both common and abundant. Compared with other insects they are also easy to identify, at least to the level of genus and sub-genus. Broadly speaking there are two life histories that are exhibited by bees; (1) those species that collect pollen (sometimes together with floral oils) and bring it back to their nest, provisioning pollen balls as food for their larvae, and (2) those whose adult females invade the nest of another bee while the host mother is away foraging. The parasitic bees (technically called cleptoparasitoids or cuckoo bees) deposit their eggs on or near the pollen ball. Larvae of the host are soon killed by the invaders which happily develop into pupae and then adults. A lot of work for nothing, yes? The females, but not the males, of most bee species have stings but there is a group that lacks a sting apparatus, the Meliponini, or stingless bees. Though among the smallest of bees, they are related to Apis (the honeybee genus) and like it are colonial, building nests in old wood that support hundreds of individuals. The number of bee species recorded in Kenya is 362. The specimen we celebrate today is probably Allodape macula one of three species of Allodape bees we recently collected in traps set in sites west of the great Rift Valley. These are the first Kenya records for the genus. Coincidentally, of the three species of parasitoids known to attack allodapine bees, one of them is Echthrodape africana which was featured few weeks ago.
Credits: Dr Robert Copeland