South American Cuckoo Bee vs Totara Longhorn Beetle

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute South American Cuckoo Bee Totara Longhorn Beetle
Scientific Name Exaerete frontalis Xylotoles costatus
Order Hymenoptera Coleoptera
Family Apidae Cerambycidae
Size 22-28 mm 1-2 cm
Habitat Woodlands Woodlands
Diet Parasites Wood Feeders
Regions Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Central America New Zealand
Conservation Not Evaluated Endangered

South American Cuckoo Bee

A large metallic blue-green cleptoparasitic orchid bee that lays its eggs in the nests of other orchid bees. Its mandibles are strong enough to break into sealed brood cells.

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Did You Know?

Its larvae first consume the host's food stores, then devour the host bee larva itself before pupating in the stolen nest cell.

Totara Longhorn Beetle

A longhorn beetle endemic to the Chatham Islands of New Zealand. It breeds in dead wood of native Dracophyllum trees.

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Did You Know?

The Chatham Islands have been so heavily deforested that many of their endemic insects are now critically rare.