WildBristol.uk - Discovering Wildlife in Bristol

Widespread but local. Habitat includes: anywhere where its host species can be found (Megachile willughbiella and M. circumcincta) mainly in well vegetated areas e.g. gardens, parks, coasts, meadows, scrub, wasteland, woodland edges. Female Megachile bees construct nests of larval cells from leaves and provision each cell with a mixture of pollen and nectar for the young. Female Coelioxys bees seek out these nests and use their sharp abdomens to pierce the cells and lay an egg. This egg hatches before that of the Megachile bee and the second instar larva uses its long curved jaws to crush the egg or young larva of the Megachile host. The Coelioxys larva can then feed on the contents of the cell, having normal jaws in its later instars. It pupates within a cocoon spun within the host cell where the larva overwinters as a prepupa before emerging the following summer.