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the disappearance

the disappearance

Zombie Bees Increasing in US Neighborhoods

9mo ago
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Zombie Bees Increasing in US Neighborhoods - as part of the news series by GeoBeats. There are many theories trying to explain the disappearance of honeybees worldwide, but now scientists have identified a new threat. A biology professor from San Francisco State University in California noticed piles of dead bees under lights on campus, and took them to his lab to study. After forgetting about them for a few days, he then found that the dead bees were hatching fly pupae from inside. It turns out that a parasitic fly lays its eggs in the body of a honey bee, which leaves the hive several days later and flies toward a light source, before dying and hatching up to 13 baby flies, who go out and find another bee to lay their eggs in. Researchers discovered that over 75 percent of the bees in the area that they studied were hosts to the parasite. Another case of parasitic insects involves a wasp laying its eggs on the outside of a spider's abdomen. Before it dies, the spider weaves an unusual web; different from the one it makes for itself to catch prey. The host spider actually builds a home for the wasp larvae that had been slowly sucking out its insides.