The medium used for making bee hives may be many things but how about sandstone. (Science Daily: Between a rock and a hard place: Biologists unearth sandstone-excavating bees)
An Anthophora pueblo bee pokes out of a sandstone tunnel carved by the bee's mandibles.
"Not much is known about this hard-to-find species and our first step was to confirm it actually prefers nesting in sandstone," says Michael Orr, USU doctoral student in biology and lead author on the paper. "Once we confirmed this preference, the next step was to explore why the bees expend such tremendous effort and energy, limiting their ability to reproduce, to create these shelters."
Birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
An Anthophora pueblo bee pokes out of a sandstone tunnel carved by the bee's mandibles.
Credit: Michael Orr/Utah State University
Utah State University entomologists have discovered a bee species with a similar, undeterred building drive in the unforgiving deserts of the American Southwest. According to the scientists' findings, published Sept. 12, 2016, in Current Biology, tiny Anthophora pueblo bee goes to great effort to excavate nests in hard sandstone; eschewing weaker, easier-to-dig substrates and soils.
"Not much is known about this hard-to-find species and our first step was to confirm it actually prefers nesting in sandstone," says Michael Orr, USU doctoral student in biology and lead author on the paper. "Once we confirmed this preference, the next step was to explore why the bees expend such tremendous effort and energy, limiting their ability to reproduce, to create these shelters."
- Science Daily
Even educated fleas do it
- Cole Porter
The theme of Rock Cities is ongoing with another example in Ithaka: Cooper Pedy, Australia's Underground Rock City.
No comments:
Post a Comment