Cuckoo Bee - Nomada sp.
Order Hymenoptera -- abelha, ants, bees, formiga, vespa, wasps / Suborder Apocrita  / Superfamily Apoidea -- bees / Family Apidae -- bumble bees, euglossine, euglossines, honey bees, stingless bees  /  Subfamily Nomadinae / Tribe Nomadini  /  Genus: Nomada  Scopoli, 1770
Live adult Cuckoo Bee photographed in the wild at Winfield Mounds Forest Preserve, Winfield IL USA.


 

Cuckoo Bees are parasites, in that the female cuckoo bee lays her eggs in the nest of other bees, primarily diggers and Andrenids.  Cuckoos are also said to be kleptoparasites, stealing honey and pollen collected by others. Look for cuckoo bees flying low over the ground and foliage, hunting for foraging and nesting victims.

Cuckoo Bee
The Insects of Cedar Creek still classifies the Cuckoo Bees in the family Anthophoridae:
"Anthophorid Bees (920 NA spp) are most diverse in the western U.S. Three distinctive subfamilies are recognized: Nomadinae (Cuckoo Bees), Anthophorinae (Digger Bees), and Xylocopinae (Carpenter Bees). "  Many entomologists take a different view, including Michener (2000), who notes that "recognition of Anthophoridae is no longer justified," and includes its former members within Subfamily Apinae.

Publication:  Author: Michener, Charles D.
Publication Date: 2000   Book Name: The Bees of the World
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN/ISSN: 0-8018-6133-0      Reference for: Anthophoridae