Bee Moth

Fascinating facts about the Bee Moth

• A female bee moth can lay up to one hundred eggs in a single bumble-bee nest that she finds by scent. She is drawn to the odours of active nests and prefers to deposit her clutch in exposed, elevated chambers rather than low-lying sites. After laying, the eggs hatch in early summer, typically between March and July, when the host colonies are temporarily weaker. This timing lets the larvae exploit the brief period of reduced host defence.
• Male bee moths emit ultrasonic chirps that last about 1.1 seconds and can be detected up to 0.45 metres away. These brief bursts are produced by rapid wing movements that drive high-frequency oscillations of specialised tymbals on the tegula. The same signals are used both in courtship to attract females and in rival encounters with other males. Their short, high-frequency nature limits the range but makes the calls effective in close-range communication.
• When threatened, an adult bee moth will drop to the ground and lie on its back, mimicking a dead insect. This death-feigning posture reduces the likelihood that a defending wasp or bumblebee will attack, as the host is less inclined to assault what appears lifeless. The behaviour is especially useful when the moth is trying to infiltrate a host nest, allowing it to move unnoticed among the occupants.
• Bee moth larvae protect themselves with a dense silk web that is difficult for host insects to breach, allowing them to feed inside the nest without being attacked. The silk is spun around the yellow larvae, which measure 22-30 mm in length, and it shields them from the defensive bees and wasps. While concealed, the larvae tunnel through the comb, consuming eggs, pollen, honey and waste, and in the process they destroy large portions of the nest structure.
• Both male and female bee moths emit sex pheromones to attract mates, but only the male adds an ultrasonic signal to his courtship display. The male's wing glands release a pheromone whose major component is R-mellein, a compound produced by a fungus found in the larvae's gut and in the honeycomb they feed on.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Bee Moth

In the warm, golden light of summer evenings, the bee moth dances through the air with an effortless elegance, its delicate wings beating at a hypnotic pace as it flits from bloom to bloom in search of sweet nectar. With a soft, furry coat and a gentle hum, this enchanting creature moves through the world with a quiet confidence, its very existence a testament to the beauty and wonder of the natural world. As it alights upon a flower, its proboscis uncoils like a slender thread, drinking in the sweetness with an insatiable appetite, a true marvel of evolutionary adaptation.

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