Ah, my pretty, you’re…#&! a beetle pile!
By Susan Milius
Hundreds of tiny, young beetles lump together in the shape of a female bee and then grab rides on the male bees that they seduce, say California researchers.
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Watching a male bee snuggling down to what had seemed an inviting partner and discovering himself laden with beetle larvae is “pretty remarkable,” says John Hafernik of San Francisco State University. “You can’t see terror in a bee’s eyes, but you can imagine it.”