Cuckoo Bees

Cuckoo Bees, a group of bees principally belonging to the genus Nomada. Their popular name is derived from their habit of laying their eggs in the nests of other bees, so that the young feed on the honey stored up by the host. As these bees do not collect pollen for the manufacture of comb, their hind legs are simpler in structure, and lack the brush-like apparatus with which most bees are provided. Some of the "Cuckoo-Bees" belong to the genus Apathus. These are parasitic on the Humble Bees, which they closely resemble in appearance. They are, however, only bisexual.