r/interestingasfuck • u/Forttress • 5h ago

The Neon Cuckoo Bee sleeps by clamping its jaws onto a plant stem and letting its body hang in the air

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u/Forttress 5h ago

This isn't just any bee, but a ruthless nest parasite (hence the name "cuckoo"). It lives in Australia. It doesn't build hives, the female secretly sneaks into the burrows of other bees (blue-banded amegilla) and lays her eggs. The neon bee larva hatches first and consumes all the pollen reserves, condemning the nest's rightful owners to starvation

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u/slicerprime 5h ago

It lives in Australia

Of course it does

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u/Ok_Hand5810 5h ago

Why would God create such a creature?

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u/booradleysghost 5h ago

Charles Darwin would like a word with you.

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u/Ok_Hand5810 5h ago

That heretic? Tell him I'm busy praying.

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u/Chemical_Nervous 4h ago

Ok, I just got a call from god and he said 'fuck those bees.' kinda messed up, but those are the words of the Lord

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u/Ok_Hand5810 4h ago

Damn, alright then. If that's what the big guy says, I will launch a crusade against the bees.

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u/LeoSolaris 4h ago

Either god is a fictional character written to explain the world to the ignorant or a complete psychopath who created a functionally empty, completely hostile universe. 

Nature is an incomprehensible nightmare of suffering, death, and extreme body horror. Especially for insects. Humans are shielded from the cruelty of real survival because of our ability to craft tools and use them to shape our environment. 

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u/Antistis 2h ago

We have cuckoo wasps in the southern US as well. I used to pull them out of vane traps when I worked as a biological intern at USDA. They have this vibrant blue/green sheen and are quite pretty.

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u/Pj_o7 5h ago

Stunning

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u/slicerprime 5h ago

Talk about grinding your teeth when you sleep

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u/-Clem-Fandango- 4h ago

We also have cuckoo wasps that are the same electric blue colour. They parasitize cockroaches I think.

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u/darthsuperscary 4h ago

Reminds me of the geth dropships that cling to the sides of buildings.

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u/SonOfTheMostHHigh 2h ago

Sounds like the billionaire infestation that the world is experiencing today!

https://giphy.com/gifs/hvYXpOWtLrsahsMQQM