Orchid Cuckoo Bee (Exaerete frontalis: Hymenoptera: Euglossini, Apidae), Loreto, Peru

An Orchid Cuckoo Bee (Exaerete frontalis: Hymenoptera: Euglossini, Apidae). This individual was photographed on the Amazon River, Loreto, Peru, October 2019. Male Orchid Cuckoo Bees collect aeromatic chemicals from things like orchids. They presumably use the chemicals to attract mates. One unusual feature of these beautiful bees is that they are "cleptoparasitic" (also spelled "kleptoparasitic" in the literature). Cleptoparasitic bees deposit their eggs in the nests of other bees and the host species winds up feeding and caring for their larvae. The larvae of these species are destructive in the nests of other bees. For example, the cleptoparasitic larvae hatch and eat the host larva's pollen ball (something the other bee larvae need to develop). But it gets worse. The cleptoparasitic larvae usually kill and eats the host bee's larva. This is where the common name comes from for these bees - their behavior of "cheating" a system and depositing their eggs in the nests of other species so that a host species rears their young. The behavior is similar to cuckoo birds. All species in this genus are metallic and brightly colored.