Orchid Cuckoo Bee, Brazil.

The Orchid Cuckoo Bee of the most spectacular of all bees in terms of size, colour and microsculpture. We usually think of bees as benign, helpful creatures, but Exaerete is a cuckoo bee. Instead of collecting pollen and constructing their own nests, female cuckoo bees enter the nests of other bees and lay their eggs in the host’s brood cells.

This particular specimen has grown to a large size by consuming the pollen diligently collected by its host.