Carpenter Bee & Grasshopper Nymph Face-off
Iridescent-Copper-Winged Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa sp, Nymph, and Daylily. Finca Moriama Pollinator Garden, Antioquia, Colombia, S.A.
Bee & Nymph Face-off
Both are herbivores, each harness and stand-off the Daylily Angiosperm. Holding tight and to the upper right the bright green grasshopper nymph carefully grips a daylily bud; and, the carpenter bee, stands erect with its straw-like proboscis firmly inserted into the flower’s hind-side. This female carpenter bee, Xylocopa sp., is known for notoriously bypassing standard pollinator protocall in favor of penetrating Daylily’s backside to steal her nectar. She exposes a smooth glossy thorax and a hairy six-banded abdomen. She also boast two pairs of iridescent-copper-colored-wings. Her shimmering wings are not concocted from mica and pigments, but rather sophisticated microscopic structures that refract, scattering light waves to form metallic shimmering shades of copper-bronze or purple-violet. Her most alluring feature is her floral sonication mechanism or the way she mesmerizes with her buzz pollination technique. Want to know more about xylocopa‘s harmonious MHz frequencies and what happens next in the bee-nymph face-off?