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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies (Hymenoptera) » Aculeata - Ants, Bees and Stinging Wasps » Apoidea (clade Anthophila) - Bees » Cuckoo, Carpenter, Digger, Bumble, and Honey Bees (Apidae) » Honey, Bumble, Longhorn, Orchid, and Digger Bees (Apinae) » Honey Bees (Apini) » Honey Bees (Apis) » Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)
Photo#440948
Honeybee snared by milkweed - Apis mellifera
Copyright © 2010 James C. Trager

Honeybee snared by milkweed - Apis mellifera
Shaw Nature Reserve near Gray Summit, Franklin County, Missouri, USA
August 12, 2010
I noticed this blurry honeybee struggling to free itself from a flower of Asclepias incarnata. Closer inspection revealed her "foot" was caught in the pollinium-bearing corona of the bloom.

Images of this individual: tag all
Honeybee snared by milkweed - Apis mellifera Honeybee snared by milkweed - Apis mellifera close-up of honeybee tarsus with milkweed pollinium - Apis mellifera - female
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Contributed by James C. Trager on 12 August, 2010 - 2:13pm
Last updated 13 November, 2010 - 9:55am

Another clumsy insect
I saw a fly with its head stuck in burdock.
… John F. Carr, 12 August, 2010 - 6:27pm login or register to post comments

 
That is pointless clumsiness.
But in this case, I've heard the milkweed "wants" to snag the insect as a device for attaching the pollinium during the struggling.
… James C. Trager, 13 August, 2010 - 7:03am login or register to post comments

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