A new study has revealed the existence of ‘flesh-eating’ bees who feast on dead bodies rather than battle for nectar.
The bees in question are classed as tropical and are believed to be the first of their species in the world to use a different food sauce other than plants.
It is believed the meat-eating bee is from the Trigona family of stingless bees and can be found in Costa Rica.
The research was carried out by staff from the University of California (UC) Riverside.
“These are the only bees in the world that have evolved to use food sources not produced by plants, which is a pretty remarkable change in dietary habits,” said UC Riverside entomologist Doug Yanega.
The bees have now been nicknamed the ‘vulture bees’ by scientists because they seem to share their mentality.
To clarify details of the newly found meat eaters, researchers went to Costa Rica and set up bait of raw chicken pieces on branches, which they smeared with petroleum jelly to prevent ants.
The vulture bees were immediately attracted to the chicken pieces, which raised the researchers interest in wondering how their diets affected them from vegetarian bees.
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To do a fair comparison, the team collected the vulture beers, stingless bees that fed on both meat and flowers, and some that fed only on pollen.
On analysing the microbiomes of all three bee types, they found the most extreme changes among exclusive meat-feeders.
Quinn McFrederick, a UCR entomologist, said: “The vulture bee microbiome is enriched in acid-loving bacteria, which are novel bacteria that their relatives don’t have.
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“These bacteria are similar to ones found in actual vultures, as well as hyenas and other carrion-feeders, presumably to help protect them from pathogens that show up on carrion.”
Researchers found certain bacteria present in vulture bees, including Lactobacillus, which is in a lot of humans’ fermented food, like sourdough.
They were also found to vulture bees harbour Carnobacterium, which is associated with flesh digestion.
Jessica Maccaro, a UCR entomology doctoral student, said: “It’s crazy to me that a bee can eat dead bodies. We could get sick from that because of all the microbes on meat competing with each other and releasing toxins that are very bad for us.”
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