Bee covered in mites?

[Lancashire Lad]

I recently spotted what I thought was a large, black headed red bodied beetle, which was crawling slowly along a sand dune trail near Lytham St.Annes.

Curiosity got the better of me so I picked up the said "beetle" to find that it was in fact a large bee, whose thorax & abdomen was covered in literally dozens of tiny red "mite" like things.

The bee appeared to have no wings, (not sure whether these parasites would have had anything to do with that).

I put it back down rather more quickly than I'd picked it up, not wishing to be stung.

However, it was in obvious discomfort so I put it out of its misery.

Has anyone else seen such a thing? - I've certainly never seen anything like this before.

Unfortunately didn't have my camera with me at the time, or I would have posted a pic.

Regards
Mike.

[Dogghound]

Its very common for both bees and beetles to be covered in mites like this. However the mites arnt thought to be that harmful to the host, they usually let the host take them to the hosts nests or food sources. They can cause problems particularly if the host is covered it inhibits reproduction and breathing. The ones on bees Parasitellus fucorum usually feeds on pollen. They wouldnt of eaten the wings, are you sure it was a bee? However there are afew nasty mites on insects that are usual internal, but these are generally smaller and not as obvious.

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

...are you sure it was a bee?...

Hi Dogghound,

Yes it was definitely a bee. (Rather than a wasp or hover fly etc.), It did take me some seconds to realise it though, as its body was covered with the mites.

I don't know how it would have lost its wings, if these things weren't involved.

It was crawling very slowly, in a sort of "staggering" fashion if that makes sense.

The parasites looked similar to red spider mites that are often seen on stone walls during summer, but I'd say these things were darker red, and bigger.

Regards
Mike.

[Dogghound]

They sound very much like Parasitellus fucorum , it was probrably staggering due to the weight of them all. The lack of wings could be due to it not emerging properly it very common for insects to emerge deformed later in the year due to the sudden cold nights.

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

...They sound very much like Parasitellus fucorum ...

I've just Googled an image search for Parasitellus fucorum, and from the results, I think you are probably correct.

Interestingly, one of the Google results photos showed a cranefly (Tipula maxima), and the things on the cranefly (identified as Parasitus fucorum) definitely looked like what I found on the bee.

Pity I couldn't have provided a pic. (One of these days I will actually take my own advice and carry my pocket camera everywhere!).

Regards
Mike.

[Dogghound]

The problem is Mike alot of the photo's on the web are incorrect in my experience you wouldnt find Parasitellus fucorum on a cranefly. The problem arises with the fact that there is a large amount of mite species in the UK that do this sort of thing, so in alot of cases a photo wouldnt be enough you would need to dig out the microscope and view them through this.

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

...The problem is Mike alot of the photo's on the web are incorrect in my experience you wouldnt find Parasitellus fucorum on a cranefly...

Can't dispute anything that you say, there certainly is a lot of dubious information on the net.
I appreciate that without suitable study of the individual mites concerned, identification would always be likeliest culprit/best guess. (Although I'm absolutely certain that your best guess would be much more likely correct than mine!).

The only reason I referred to the cranefly picture was that the beasties shown looked a nearer match colour/size wise. Also they were named as Parasitus fucorum, as opposed to Parasitellus fucorum. (I don't know whether that would be a typo - i.e. if "Parasitus" and "Parasitellus" are one and the same, or two separate species.

Regards
Mike.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lad

The only reason I referred to the cranefly picture was that the beasties shown looked a nearer match colour/size wise. Also they were named as Parasitus fucorum, as opposed to Parasitellus fucorum. (I don't know whether that would be a typo - i.e. if "Parasitus" and "Parasitellus" are one and the same, or two separate species.

Regards
Mike.

Parasitellus was previously called Parasitus so its the same genus just they like to keep changing their names which gets confusing sometimes.

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Parasitellus was previously called Parasitus so its the same genus just they like to keep changing their names which gets confusing sometimes.

Cheers Dogghound.

At least I will now have an idea of what I'm looking at if I come across any more of these things in the future.

Regards
Mike.