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#beehotel

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This might be a record for me: 16 mason bee cocoons in a single nesting tube. The ones on the left are larger and likely all females. The smaller ones on the right are males, who emerge first and then wait for females to come out. It's really cool how hymenopterans can control the sex of eggs they lay (males are from unfertilized eggs). Osmia georgica. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #bees #cocoons #insects #pollinators #hymenoptera #osmia #haplodiploidy

Continued thread

Missing from the above site is the answer to, "How do I clean a bamboo insect hotel?" The answer, of course, is that you can't — there's no easy way to open them, plus they are often glued in place. And if bees are nesting in the same stems year after year, so are Houdini flies, parasitic wasps, mites, dermestid beetles, fungi, and bacteria. Sure, your local bees will keep using the bamboo and everything *appears* peachy, but if you split one open you'd likely find it loaded with things that are making the bees sad. #InsectHotel #BeeHotel #ParasiteHotel #bees #insects #bamboo