Sunday, April 29, 2012

Big Bunny Is Watching











Other Beesness: From the land of B^4 and N__B, a new bee!
"They use humans as a salt lick," said entomologist John Ascher, who netted the first known specimen of the species in 2010 while strolling in Brooklyn's Prospect Park near his home. "They land on your arm and lap up the sweat."
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These bees prefer sweaty people—over most animals—because the human diet usually is so salty that their perspiration is saturated with the essential nutrient, experts said.
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In the end, only DNA testing by sweat bee specialist Jason Gibbs at Cornell University could identify its niche. Last November, they announced the discovery of Lasioglossum gotham, in a peer-reviewed journal called Zootaxa. The newbie joined the growing catalog of easily overlooked wild native bees.



(Cross-posted at Whiskey Fire. Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.)
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13 comments:

Alexia said...

ahhh cool big bunny - love the banner.
any b__ starts sipping my sweat's gonna be swatted!

Randal Graves said...

Shouldn't that be WILKOMMEN, and this is how the Boys from Brazil take over, stuff us full of salty bratwurst, and let the apiary community do its thing. I'm on to you, Southern Ohiostan.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

From the article:

Unlike many honeybees, urban bees in the Northeastern U.S. have adapted to rising temperatures, which have caused spring—and the first bloom of flowers for pollination—to arrive about 10 days earlier in recent years, Rutgers University researchers said.

You nanookies of the North up in Clevelandistan are in for a heat wave, R.G.
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zombie rotten mcdonald said...

It will be interesting when I tell my doctor that I am eating too much salt for the bees!

Laura said...

How does one become a "Sweat Bee Specialist" anyhow?

I love Bee's. I like fat bodies. But that's just me and my fetish... much like crushing. If I saw a dead, fat bee on the ground.. omg!!! Crunch! Crunch!!!!!

((Hugs))
Laura

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Make sure you're wearing a PETA badge while you explain, zrm.

Laura, I have to say that's a question that perhaps only Smut Clyde could answer.
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Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

I COMMENTED AT WHISKEY FIRE!

WHY AM I YELLING?!!!

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I don't know, vs.

Your flag portrait doesn't seem to be registering any more than normal lagomorph disapproval.
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Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

any b__ starts sipping my sweat's gonna be swatted!

Say it ain't so- sweat bees are great... I never begrudged one a snack during a long day of biking.

Hell, any attention when you're filthy and sweaty is welcome, even if it's only a bee.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I don't mind sweat bees, but gnat bites give me hell. So they get slapped, if possible.
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Dr.KennethNoisewater said...

Your flag portrait doesn't seem to be registering any more than normal lagomorph disapproval.

¥ou can't see the seething rage hovering just beneath the surface? Weird.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

It's easier to see that in this bunny pic, vs.
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M. Bouffant said...

Also tears. Next, blood-sucking bees?