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Saturday, 22 April 2023 15:44:00

PestNet

Grahame Jackson posted a new submission ‘Biologists discover bees are the brew masters of the insect world ‘

Submission

Biologists discover bees are the brew masters of the insect world

Phy.Org

by University of California, Irvine
Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have made a remarkable discovery about cellophane bees—their microbiomes are some of the most fermentative known from the insect world. These bees, which are named for their use of cellophane-like materials to line their subterranean nests, are known for their fascinating behaviors and their important ecological roles as pollinators. Now, researchers have uncovered another aspect of their biology that makes them even more intriguing.

According to a study published in Frontiers in Microbiology, cellophane bees “brew” a liquid food for their offspring, held in chambers called brood cells. The microbiome of these brood cells is dominated by lactobacilli bacteria, which are known for their role in fermenting foods like yogurt, sauerkraut and sourdough bread. The researchers found that these bacteria are highly active in the food provisions of cellophane bees, where they likely play an important role as a source of nutrients for developing larvae.

“This discovery is quite remarkable,” said Tobin Hammer, assistant professor of ecology & evolutionary biology and lead author. “We know that lactobacilli are important for fermentation of food, but finding wild bees that use them essentially the same way was really surprising. Most of the 20,000 species of bees get their nutrition from nectar and pollen, but for these cellophane bees, we suspect that lactobacilli are also really important. They have effectively evolved from herbivores into omnivores.”

Read on: https://phys.org/news/2023-04-biologists-bees-brew-masters-insect.html