Red-Tipped Tumbling Flower Beetle vs Cuckoo Bee

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Red-Tipped Tumbling Flower Beetle Cuckoo Bee
Scientific Name Mordellina pustulata Nomada flava
Order Coleoptera Hymenoptera
Family Mordellidae Apidae
Size 3-5 mm 8-11 mm
Habitat Meadows Meadows
Diet Parasitoids Pollen Feeders
Regions Europe Europe, Asia
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Red-Tipped Tumbling Flower Beetle

A small tumbling flower beetle with dark elytra bearing reddish markings, found across Europe. Larvae develop inside the stems of composite plants.

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Did You Know?

Its larvae bore through the pith of thistle stems, pupating inside and emerging as adults through a neat exit hole.

Cuckoo Bee

A slender, wasp-like bee with yellow and black banding that lacks pollen-collecting structures. It is a brood parasite that sneaks into the nests of mining bees to lay its eggs.

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Did You Know?

Like cuckoo birds, these bees lay their eggs in the nests of other bee species, where the cuckoo larva kills the host egg and consumes all the stored food.