Pest Larva????

[Sundance]

I am going through the frames and boxs aquired at auction.

Several medium super frames of comb have what appears to be pollen. At closer look some these cells look like they had been plugged with small leaves. I pulled the plug out and inside this plug is a larva of some kind. I squeazed it and white matter came out. There is no smell I can detect. The boxes of frames were moved into 50 degree workshop 2 weeks ago. Prior to that they were subjected to outside ambient temps that have gone to 30 below.....

What is the larva? Why is it still "fresh" looking? Is it dead and just not rotten yet???

Thanks

[SilverFox]

Sounds like Mason bees.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

Put it in a plastic bag and see what hatches out.

[Sundance]

Would they have survived sub zero weather?? We had a nasty snap that was below zero for nearly 2 weeks.

Mason bees use mud don't they?? The plug on these are made of leaves.....

I will extract a few and do as Bill has suggested. But I would like to know if I should be concerned. Should I clear out all this comb with the plugs and larva or let it run it's course?

So many questions....... So little time,

[Michael Bush]

Sounds like leafcutter bees to me.

[Sundance]

What do I do with them??? Should I dispose of the comb or will the honey bees clear them out and make use of the comb?

[Sundance]

I believe they are leaf-cutter bees as Michael suggests. I found an abdomen with white stripes in a cell.

Heres a link I found on them

http://www.ento.csiro.au/research/pe..._research.html

[Michael Bush]

I'd raise them. They won't make any honey but they are cute and they are very useful pollenators. You can sell pollination by leaf cutters to the alfafa seed growers. The leaf cutters will "trip" the alfalfa flowers so the bees can get in them. If you take a board and drill a bunch of 1/4" holes in it the leaf cutters will use that. You can hang it under an eave or in a tree.

[Sundance]

Any further info on how to go about raising the little rascals??

Should I set aside the "infected" medium super comb with the larva?

Put the combs in a Nuc?

[Michael Bush]

I did a search. All I found was a class in Russia on rasing them. [img]smile.gif[/img] It'd be a long drive.

http://www.sasktelwebsite.net/eggerp...e/training.htm

But here's some info on leafcutters:
http://www.sasktelwebsite.net/eggerp...e/training.htm
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopE...s/leafcutt.htm
http://www.pollination.com/publications/IPSpub02.cfm
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/nativebee.html
http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/book/wildbee.html
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5372535.html