Bee or Wasp!

Is it your bee, or is it your wasp? That’s what Crumby was wondering as he reviewed this picture on his monitor. At first, Crumby figured it was a wasp, maybe a Philanthinae or some other type of dern Sphecidae. But thinking like that got Crumby nowhere. It was a cold trail, a dead end, a shot wad, spilt milk, lost horizon, burnt toast, etc. Yes. Crumby might as well have been cogitating over how much money he had earned from personal honor.

No. Crumby needed a new tack. Crumby needed to consider if maybe this insect was, or is, a bee. Turns out, it is a bee. But it’s a special kind of bee. It is a cleptoparasitic bee of the genus Nomada. Holy Insects! The females of this species lay eggs in the nests of regular bees. Then the larva of these ones eat up the bean bin plus maybe eat the legitimate bee larva. Jeez Louise! There are many perils for Crumby to discover amid the Lilliputian world of Class Insecta.