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Source: The post is based on the article “Researchers discover new cuckoo bee in Kerala” published in The Hindu on 18th February 2023
What is the News?
Researchers have discovered a new species of cuckoo bee named “Thyreus narendrani” in kole Wetland, Kerala.
What is Thyreus narendrani?
Thyreus narendrani is a new species of cuckoo bee. It belongs to the family Apidae of order Hymenoptera.
Cuckoo bees parasitise the nest of other bees by breaking and entering and laying their eggs.
Unlike other female bees, cuckoo bees lack pollen-collecting structures.
Once the cuckoo bee’s larva hatches out in the nest of the host bee, it consumes the food stored by the host for its own growing larva.
What is Kole Wetland?
Kole Wetland is located in Kerala. It is one of the largest brackish, humid tropical wetland ecosystem on the southwest coast of India.
It was declared as a Ramsar Site in 2002. It is situated in the central Asian Flyway of migratory birds.
The wetland extends from the northern bank of Chalakudy River in the south to the southern bank of Bharathapuzha River in the north.
The wetland is popular for its rice cultivation that dates back to 300 years. The wetland gets its name from its high productivity – ‘Kole’ literally translates to ‘bumper crop’ in Malayalam.
