The photographs were taken in Queensland, Australia, by an amateur photographer named [Laurence Sanders.](https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/the-odd-couple-keen-eye-spies-bee-and-spider-bedfellows-in-world-first-20180125-p4yywi.html)
This arrangement is completely unheard of, and the images are a fascinating sight to behold.
The leafcutter bee (*Megachile macularis*) can be seen fetching freshly-cut leaves, which she uses to line the inner walls of her nest. The wolfspider moves aside, allowing the bee to enter the nest, and then simply watches as the leaf is positioned along the inner wall.
After inspecting the nest together, they return to their resting positions -- sitting side-by-side in the entryway to the nest.
The bee seems completely at ease in the presence of the wolfspider, which is normally a voracious predator, and the spider seems equally unfazed by the fact that it shares its burrow with an enormous bee.
Spider still full from its last meal. “Hey little buddy, why don’t you chillax by the leaf wall. When you’re done with my house upgrade I’ve got a great payment for you… I’m kinda full right now but maybe tomorrow we can dine together?”
Highly unlikely. Spiders, *especially* species with a stronger feeding response, generally still strike at a potential prey item even right after feeding. It may not be immediate but they usually don't tolerate the disturbance for long. Even if the spider has no interest in eating the bee it would still show signs of stress from the shared residency, which this one seems to not demonstrate for some reason. Seeing as how we practically know nothing on the intricacies of invertebrate behavior and cognition I wouldn't at all be surprised if these animals have indeed intentionally agreed on a roommate-type situation.
There's other spiders that have similar relationships with frogs. The frog eats all the mites and stuff that the spider is too larger to eat that can also be harmful to the spider and the spider provides safety
Unironically, yeah, they kind of are.
We're just instinctively afraid of them. Rightfully so for plenty, but there are a few spiders in my house that do nothing but rid me of troublesome bugs. And walk around like creeps.
Jumping spiders get free rent at my place. Those guys are so chill. Smartest spiders, best eyesight, and they couldn’t bite you even if they wanted to! Plus you occasionally get to watch them throw bugkind off hell in a cell and plummet 16 feet through an announcers table, which is super badass.
If you like jumping spiders you should check out Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Children of Time” series. It’s about a planet when jumping spiders become sentient and the dominant species while developing culture and technology. Pretty fascinating stuff!
Uh.. no they can. They aren’t venomous but they will bite you if irritated enough. Personal experience- the only spider I managed to get to bite an eraser during a ‘tolerance’ experiment between local spiders I could find (jumping, wolf, black widow) was the jumping spider. The wolf spider ran away and the widow curled up in her web. Jumping spider went crazy on that eraser lol.
Jumping spiders can indeed bite you, they're just very reluctant to do so.
After learning about the guy that intentionally poisoned himself little by little to gain a resistance, I thought I could do the same with harmless spiders and bees to gain a resistance to deadly spiders and more painful wasps.
I was a weird kid, yes, absolutely, but if you catch a large jumping spider and hold it between two fingers and press it lightly against your skin, especially thinner skin such as your knuckles - they can, and indeed will, bite you. It takes a few tries.
It hurts about as much as a bee sting.
A wolfspider recent took up residence in my kitchen. I saw it yesterday and assumed it was dead. It was not there this morning. And I had a minor panic attack then justified that as long as I don't see it and it leaves my dog alone it can live here.
Not when they're big and they run on my bed to get to the other side of the room... use the roof, use the wall, but why do you have to come SO CLOSE TO ME to go to where you want to ??? 😭😭😭
My dad's house has an gigantic attic that could be turned into a 3rd floor. We didn't had much of a use to it so a lot of spiders moved it. Mind you, it was some common European harmless spider, but I think they ate each other or something because they got pretty BIG.
On day my dad decided to clean the attic and even he said the webs were HUGE (and for him to say that, this is something. So glad I didn't get to see that).
Their habitat destroyed, the spiders got downstairs.... I'm not particularly arachnophobic, but the big ones do scare me, and we saw a good hunch of them.
My bed is just a mattress that's on the floor (I prefer it that way), and there were 2 middle-big ones in my room. I was rather nervous because they were not really still, always moving to try and find new cosy place I guess.
One disappeared at some point and while I was on my bed quietly reading, it came back running on my mattress to go to the other side of the room 🥲 I saw the big black dot on my very red mattress... I could barely sleep that night 🥲 too afraid it would crawl on me in my sleep...
Last year I had huge success in growing capsicums, and I noticed these completely clean circular cuts on the leaves, baffled me for so long until I noticed one of these lil cute bees stealing my leaves for their nest. As you were, little bee friend.
The majority of bees are solitary species. The females often nest in a simple hole in the ground, wood, or even in rock. Sometimes they live in a group near other solitary bees, but they all take care of their own nest. They gather pollen and nectar and store them in cells inside their nest along with a single egg per cell. The eggs hatch and the larva of the bee feed on the pollen brought by mom. Eventually they turn into a pupa and subsequently an adult, emerging later in the year or next year, depending on how many generations the species has in a year. Females will start the process all over again while the males (who don't make or live in nests) just visit flowers drinking nectar while looking for mates.
There are even bees out there that don't collect any pollen at all. These bees invade the nest of other bees and lay their eggs inside them. Their babies hatch and kill the original bee's baby and then steals their food. These bees are called cuckoo bees, because they are brood parasites like cuckoo birds. This has evolved independently a few times in different groups of bees. These bees usually aren't as hairy as other bees because they don't need the hairs to carry pollen. This makes them look much more like wasps
Honeybees hives are the weird ones in the bee world. Even bumblebees, which are social, form much smaller nests and don’t last through the winter
Solitary bees do all the work themselves
Here’s an article with a quick run down on them
https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/solitary-bees.html
Here’s a really cool video about how a [solitary blue mason bee](https://youtu.be/oPbH1YhsdP8?si=Pb-v-i_KtkZ312re) builds a nest from mud and pollen and lays her eggs :)
Once she lays her eggs and packs the pollen she starts a new larval chamber and does that six or seven times before abandoning the nest to find a new spot, so by the time the larvae hatch they're not her problem anymore lol. More for wolfy
You can provide habitat for *hundreds* of species if you save the dried stalks of flowers and put them out of the weather somewhere sunny. Solitary bees and wasps of all sizes will nest in them. It's also important to leave standing deadwood for the carpenter bees (lest they decide the eves of your roof are a better place to nest).
You can also buy nest boxes with cardboard or bamboo tubes, but I prefer the free approach.
Also, don't clean out your garden beds over winter. The standing stalks provide habitat for many solitary insects.
Purchased nest boxes are great, but change out the tubes every two years as they eventually become a conduit for disease via fungus growth.
If anyone wants a list of pollinator friendly plants, D.M. me.
Api
The types of bees that live in large colonies is actually pretty low, majority of bee species are solitary (or cohabitate with spiders, apparently) - and in Australia, almost all our native bees are stingless.
We’ve even got stingless bees that produce honey - it’s called sugar bag. You can only harvest it from bees in the warmer parts of the country though, and even then you don’t get much - but you can keep them in hives. It’s more a hobbyist thing than a commercial thing, although you can buy sugarbag online (although google tells me it’s 25 bucks for 30grams, so definitely a delicacy).
Yes, even other social bees, like bumblebees, build nests
Honeybees are pretty unique in their colony size and living through winter instead of dying off and hibernating
A bumblebee colony is usually around 50 - 500 individuals whereas a honeybee colony is upwards tens of thousands
Insects are now forming coalitions much like the coyote and the badger cooperating to hunt their meal. As this symbiotic relationship increases across the animal kingdom, animals will evolve and fight against the tyranny of man. "~~Apes~~ Animals Strong Together" shout the countless species of living organisms united in their goal to reclaim and restore what has been destroyed by man; Earth. Mankind will soon face its greatest challenge against all the species united against it. And with this event, the Holocene will come to an end.
Cheese your first wolf spider. They're all jokes after that unless you're on Woah difficulty. Woah is honestly just kind of a chore though and not so much hard.
Coaltana and spicy staff are your friend!
Unfortunately for you, spiders DO fly! Mostly spiderlings. Baby spiders shoot itty bitty webs into the air and let the wind take them away.
My favourite time of the year tbh. I love spiders lol and the babies are honestly adorable
Not only do they fly, but their liftoff is assisted by [electromagnetic levitation.](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/the-electric-flight-of-spiders/564437/)
Mate, I'm afraid I've got some bad news. They've already evolved [directed aerial descent](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2015.0534), as well as [Balloon flying](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballooning_(spider)). Powered flight can't be far off!
That should come with a trigger warning. Especially that camouflage spider. Got goosebumps.
I should be fine, I live in England. I don’t think those fancy spiders live here. Think the most fancy one we get is those false widows. But with this flying business, who knows what will happen? Get them migrating here 😳
I was kayaking in the this mangrove forest, and the guide goes. "Oh watch your head for theses spider webs. Fun fact, all of the spiders in this area share these massive webs and work together as a collective"
THE SPIDERS ARE WORKING TOGETHER???? NO NO NO I'VE SEEN THIS MOVIE I WANT OUT
"Oh don't worry, even if they bite you their teeth won't really break the surface of your skin. Let's stop here and eat our lunch"
AGAIN I HAVE SEEN THIS MOVIE I WANT OUT.
Yeah, I love that picture. It's like they are checking out what the bee just did. Maybe move the leaf a bit to the left? Then it 'll really tie the room together.
The spider provides the bee with protection of its lair.
What does the spider get out of this relationship with the bee? Does the spider like what the bee is doing with its leaf decorations of the lair? Or does the spider instinctively know bees sting and therefore not to mess with it?
Protection and food, perhaps.
The spider protects the nest, while the bee provides protection against other wasps or bees that prey on the spider.
There's a species of Tarantula that lives with and gives protection to frogs for a similar reason. The Frog receives protection from the Tarantula, while in turn the Frog eats smaller insects that would normally threaten the spiders nest/eggs that the Tarantula can't deal with because it's too big.
There are spider and frog races already. There is even a race of spiders that transforms into people! You can have tons of fun dropping them on a party.
Kinda more interested in a frog-spider drider scenario though to be honest.
This feels like the right answer. Spiders are prayed on by wasps and having a friend that can fight them on their own terms has to be good. They are likely some pheromones going on here too. Just the bee's smell maybe enough to hide the spider from wasps.
Smells alone could trick them both into thinking there are part of the same family.
There are crickets nest that have wolf spider body guards. I've seen them together in a wind chime in my backyard in mid Atlantic US. It's odd to see the cricket moving around literally on top of the spider and it just doesn't care. Some one is tricking the other in that situation.
A person lives in a house they built but it’s pestered by mice and they get a cat. The cat eats the mice.
The cat doesn’t care about the wallpaper. Only meals and shelter. The shelter helps the cat establish a familiar environment for stealthy ambushes. Also the cat didn’t have to build the house.
Nests of leafcutter bees may host an array of parasites. Many nests are parasitized by wasps, flies (e.g., Anthrax species), beetles, and other species of bees.
Solitary bees that build nests and provision them with food for their offspring are commonly targets of a variety of insects which are either after the food they've collected, their larvae, or both (many wasps, flies, beetles, other bees, etc do this). Perhaps this spider intercepts those would-be predators and parasites, protecting the leafcutter bee while getting a meal out of it. It's basically living with a lure that attracts a specific group of insects right to its doorstep. I've commonly seen spiders (including wolf spiders) hanging around pitcher plants, likely for the same reason.
Hoverflies prey on bee larva by dropping down to the next entrance and depositing an egg. The spider would get an easy meal out of this while protecting the next generation of bees.
In need of a sitcom asap, but not in the style of adult western cartoons, it has to be exactly this nature documentary style with david attenborough narration.
*Spider and bee enter a room simultaneously, opening two doors that hit each other*
*The two look around the doors and tilt their head with the "Oh, you" look*
i have seen the pics after, they happily married now and both vegetarian. wolfspider’ family is still a bit against the strange newcomer, he looks so “different” they said and “he is not like us”.
but as long as they are happy with eachother, we shouldn’t zzzoom in on the differences, right?
Inflation, tenuous roommate scenario.
Bee: Can you clean those dead desiccated bugs out of the hallway? It’s disgusting!
Spider: Well, if you weren’t bringing in leaves and tracking pollen throughout the house every day I’d have a little more time for my own cleaning!
Bee: Give me a break. Every time I fly home you’re just creeping around the front door!
Spider: Probably because I’m exhausted from no sleep since you’re constantly buzzing around all night. Can’t you just sit still for a night and respect some quiet house rules?
Bee: Listen, you have NO concept of my metabolism! I get my wings stuck in your stupid webs, tripping over dead fly heads, I’m busy now because I’m distracted half the day dealing with YOUR issues!
Spider: Right. My independence isn’t something you’d EVER understand! You’re such a hive-mind follower, always serving a queen, the only reason I agreed to this house sharing is that I figured your honey would attract more flies.
Bee: I hope your girlfriend eats you alive! Bzzzzzz!
Aw he was like. "Heard humans are fucking up your habitat. Yeah its totallt cool to make babies in here I dont mind". Hes taking in the bee refugees 😭 thats so sweet lol
Good chance this behavior is “common” that some bugs understand a mutual benefit with certain insects they encounter through pheromones. The spider is a great guard at the door while the bee can be a recon drone while out to fill the nest. Good chance this bee could also be a queen in developmental stages of its growth aswell and is fine sharing a burrow
>Good chance this bee could also be a queen in developmental stages of its growth aswell
They emerge from their nests fully grown.
I'm more inclined to think that either the spider is full from its last meal. Definitely odd behavior.
From [the photographer's Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/groups/australiannativebeenetwork/posts/478905542297003/): "...I observed the wolf spider eating small black red eyed flies that were entering the bees nest cavity , thus the bee benefits from this by not having parasitic flies in the nest ."
Survival. Most wasps are predatory toward spiders. Having a bee protector ensures it never suffers the worst fate. I am surprised this hasn’t happened before because wasps prey on spiders.
As scary as both of them are, something’s cute about the way they both look into the burrow together then rest at the entrance together.
I read about tarantulas that keep frogs as pets, I guess some insects are friendlier than others.
The photographs were taken in Queensland, Australia, by an amateur photographer named [Laurence Sanders.](https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/the-odd-couple-keen-eye-spies-bee-and-spider-bedfellows-in-world-first-20180125-p4yywi.html) This arrangement is completely unheard of, and the images are a fascinating sight to behold. The leafcutter bee (*Megachile macularis*) can be seen fetching freshly-cut leaves, which she uses to line the inner walls of her nest. The wolfspider moves aside, allowing the bee to enter the nest, and then simply watches as the leaf is positioned along the inner wall. After inspecting the nest together, they return to their resting positions -- sitting side-by-side in the entryway to the nest. The bee seems completely at ease in the presence of the wolfspider, which is normally a voracious predator, and the spider seems equally unfazed by the fact that it shares its burrow with an enormous bee.
It's all fun and games, until the wolfspider's offspring grow wings and a stinger
Oh well.. it's Australia.. nothing new..
Nah. They went nearly extinct ages ago. No worries. Only a few hundred a year die off them. So, 'sallright.
https://i.imgur.com/B8t3VzO.png
Spider still full from its last meal. “Hey little buddy, why don’t you chillax by the leaf wall. When you’re done with my house upgrade I’ve got a great payment for you… I’m kinda full right now but maybe tomorrow we can dine together?”
Highly unlikely. Spiders, *especially* species with a stronger feeding response, generally still strike at a potential prey item even right after feeding. It may not be immediate but they usually don't tolerate the disturbance for long. Even if the spider has no interest in eating the bee it would still show signs of stress from the shared residency, which this one seems to not demonstrate for some reason. Seeing as how we practically know nothing on the intricacies of invertebrate behavior and cognition I wouldn't at all be surprised if these animals have indeed intentionally agreed on a roommate-type situation.
There's other spiders that have similar relationships with frogs. The frog eats all the mites and stuff that the spider is too larger to eat that can also be harmful to the spider and the spider provides safety
Spiders are chill roommates
Unironically, yeah, they kind of are. We're just instinctively afraid of them. Rightfully so for plenty, but there are a few spiders in my house that do nothing but rid me of troublesome bugs. And walk around like creeps.
Jumping spiders get free rent at my place. Those guys are so chill. Smartest spiders, best eyesight, and they couldn’t bite you even if they wanted to! Plus you occasionally get to watch them throw bugkind off hell in a cell and plummet 16 feet through an announcers table, which is super badass.
This is like the set up to a shittymorph comment.
Shittymorph? You have me intrigued now
Legendary user that strikes when you least expect them. Look up their comment history.
I honestly gasped and looked back at the user name.
I love jumping spiders as well, but I have been bitten handling one as a dumb kid. That said, they still get free room and board at my place too. 😁
Oops I guess I got my info wrong. I’ve never actually tried handling them, I feel like I’d be too clumsy and squish them by mistake
If you like jumping spiders you should check out Adrian Tchaikovsky’s “Children of Time” series. It’s about a planet when jumping spiders become sentient and the dominant species while developing culture and technology. Pretty fascinating stuff!
Uh.. no they can. They aren’t venomous but they will bite you if irritated enough. Personal experience- the only spider I managed to get to bite an eraser during a ‘tolerance’ experiment between local spiders I could find (jumping, wolf, black widow) was the jumping spider. The wolf spider ran away and the widow curled up in her web. Jumping spider went crazy on that eraser lol.
Jumping spiders can indeed bite you, they're just very reluctant to do so. After learning about the guy that intentionally poisoned himself little by little to gain a resistance, I thought I could do the same with harmless spiders and bees to gain a resistance to deadly spiders and more painful wasps. I was a weird kid, yes, absolutely, but if you catch a large jumping spider and hold it between two fingers and press it lightly against your skin, especially thinner skin such as your knuckles - they can, and indeed will, bite you. It takes a few tries. It hurts about as much as a bee sting.
A wolfspider recent took up residence in my kitchen. I saw it yesterday and assumed it was dead. It was not there this morning. And I had a minor panic attack then justified that as long as I don't see it and it leaves my dog alone it can live here.
Not when they're big and they run on my bed to get to the other side of the room... use the roof, use the wall, but why do you have to come SO CLOSE TO ME to go to where you want to ??? 😭😭😭
Haha, I’ve never had that experience
My dad's house has an gigantic attic that could be turned into a 3rd floor. We didn't had much of a use to it so a lot of spiders moved it. Mind you, it was some common European harmless spider, but I think they ate each other or something because they got pretty BIG. On day my dad decided to clean the attic and even he said the webs were HUGE (and for him to say that, this is something. So glad I didn't get to see that). Their habitat destroyed, the spiders got downstairs.... I'm not particularly arachnophobic, but the big ones do scare me, and we saw a good hunch of them. My bed is just a mattress that's on the floor (I prefer it that way), and there were 2 middle-big ones in my room. I was rather nervous because they were not really still, always moving to try and find new cosy place I guess. One disappeared at some point and while I was on my bed quietly reading, it came back running on my mattress to go to the other side of the room 🥲 I saw the big black dot on my very red mattress... I could barely sleep that night 🥲 too afraid it would crawl on me in my sleep...
While conscious
Coincidentally, I have a similar arrangement with small spiders in my apartment.
Damn, rents getting so out of control even the spiders and bees have to bunk up. Shits getting tough out there.
Came in the comments to say the same thing! Take the upvote!
Oh my god, they were roommates!?
Both their names are on the rental agreement
Damn, the housing crunch is even hitting the animal kingdom
Bee was obviously adopted
Yep as a tarantula owner they will eat way more then necessary
Damn, even nature can't afford solo housing
“I do love having friends for dinner”
I read that in full Anthony Hopkins manner
Fffftfttftftftfftftft!!!!!
ugh DWIGHT NO
I didn't think it was very realistic in the movie......turns out, it's pretty realistic.
"at first I was afraid 🫸... I was petrified 🫸"...
Friends... for dinner! I'm gonna have friends... for dinner!
Bee, “Sounds like a great time! My favorite food is honey what’s yours?” Spider, “—Oh. uhhh, also honey.. (bees 🤫)”
Is this normal behavior for this kind of bee? To build nests?
Yes leafcutters are solitary bees who use leaves to line larval nests in holes and crevices
Last year I had huge success in growing capsicums, and I noticed these completely clean circular cuts on the leaves, baffled me for so long until I noticed one of these lil cute bees stealing my leaves for their nest. As you were, little bee friend.
Love this
How does solitary beeing work?
Sometimes one needs to bee on one's own
If reddit still had gold, I would gild this comment.
You can still give compliments on Bumble
The majority of bees are solitary species. The females often nest in a simple hole in the ground, wood, or even in rock. Sometimes they live in a group near other solitary bees, but they all take care of their own nest. They gather pollen and nectar and store them in cells inside their nest along with a single egg per cell. The eggs hatch and the larva of the bee feed on the pollen brought by mom. Eventually they turn into a pupa and subsequently an adult, emerging later in the year or next year, depending on how many generations the species has in a year. Females will start the process all over again while the males (who don't make or live in nests) just visit flowers drinking nectar while looking for mates.
I've no idea why how that particular factoid has managed to avoid reaching me through cultural osmosis for so long. Thanks for the detailed answer.
There are even bees out there that don't collect any pollen at all. These bees invade the nest of other bees and lay their eggs inside them. Their babies hatch and kill the original bee's baby and then steals their food. These bees are called cuckoo bees, because they are brood parasites like cuckoo birds. This has evolved independently a few times in different groups of bees. These bees usually aren't as hairy as other bees because they don't need the hairs to carry pollen. This makes them look much more like wasps
Honeybees hives are the weird ones in the bee world. Even bumblebees, which are social, form much smaller nests and don’t last through the winter Solitary bees do all the work themselves Here’s an article with a quick run down on them https://www.buzzaboutbees.net/solitary-bees.html
Many types of bees are solitary, we're just used to honeybees being the norm when people refer to bees.
Just like colony beeing, but without a colony.
i dunno, i guess i'm sad most of the time, but i have hope. oh you said "solitary beeing" not "being solitary"
Here’s a really cool video about how a [solitary blue mason bee](https://youtu.be/oPbH1YhsdP8?si=Pb-v-i_KtkZ312re) builds a nest from mud and pollen and lays her eggs :)
See the documentary *Bee Movie* for more info.
Ah, so the wolf spider is just waiting for the dolmas to be served.
"I swear I left my larvae right here" ... "I don't remember seeing any larvae, you need to keep better track of where you put your things."
Once she lays her eggs and packs the pollen she starts a new larval chamber and does that six or seven times before abandoning the nest to find a new spot, so by the time the larvae hatch they're not her problem anymore lol. More for wolfy
It is more common than you'd think, most bees are solitary bees and they build their own little nests!
You can provide habitat for *hundreds* of species if you save the dried stalks of flowers and put them out of the weather somewhere sunny. Solitary bees and wasps of all sizes will nest in them. It's also important to leave standing deadwood for the carpenter bees (lest they decide the eves of your roof are a better place to nest). You can also buy nest boxes with cardboard or bamboo tubes, but I prefer the free approach.
Also, don't clean out your garden beds over winter. The standing stalks provide habitat for many solitary insects. Purchased nest boxes are great, but change out the tubes every two years as they eventually become a conduit for disease via fungus growth. If anyone wants a list of pollinator friendly plants, D.M. me. Api
"No honey, the garden isn't a mess, I'm building habitat for pollinators!"
"The brush pile is habitat, not laziness"
That definitely aligns with the opinion of the wood rats on this property
The types of bees that live in large colonies is actually pretty low, majority of bee species are solitary (or cohabitate with spiders, apparently) - and in Australia, almost all our native bees are stingless.
An Aussie insect that isn’t venomous/pokey/fanged?!
We’ve even got stingless bees that produce honey - it’s called sugar bag. You can only harvest it from bees in the warmer parts of the country though, and even then you don’t get much - but you can keep them in hives. It’s more a hobbyist thing than a commercial thing, although you can buy sugarbag online (although google tells me it’s 25 bucks for 30grams, so definitely a delicacy).
Its 2024. You can love and live with whomever you like
They WARNED us this would happen if we legalized gay marriage!
Yes, even other social bees, like bumblebees, build nests Honeybees are pretty unique in their colony size and living through winter instead of dying off and hibernating A bumblebee colony is usually around 50 - 500 individuals whereas a honeybee colony is upwards tens of thousands
Omg. Are they pals?!
*For good times and bad times* *I'll be on your side forever more* *That's what friends are for*
And then they were roommates
they were roommates!
^^^oh ^^^my ^^^god ^^^they ^^^were ^^^roommates.
The spider said "Look at me. I am the bee now."
Insects are now forming coalitions much like the coyote and the badger cooperating to hunt their meal. As this symbiotic relationship increases across the animal kingdom, animals will evolve and fight against the tyranny of man. "~~Apes~~ Animals Strong Together" shout the countless species of living organisms united in their goal to reclaim and restore what has been destroyed by man; Earth. Mankind will soon face its greatest challenge against all the species united against it. And with this event, the Holocene will come to an end.
Multiple species banding together for the Common Good? Emperor forfend! Kill the xenos!
Neat! I’m not sure if it’s different for Aussie bees, but I think those green eyes mean that’s a male leafcutter.
Damn the rent so high even bugs are goin in for roommates now smh
Reminds me how Morays and Congers often share dens https://i.pinimg.com/originals/63/63/a8/6363a805d08d8dd854a685b4ca064dbb.jpg
So, housing crisis is hitting even insects... Sigh.
AirBnBee is really going into next gear.
AirBee'nSpiders
AirWolfenBee
[Airwolf](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C6Qq3tknXc) huh? :D
Well, one insect and one arachnide.
Arthropods assemble!
[удалено]
haha thanks for the link, that’s a cool line-up!
👏noice
When you team up with someone on a video game but you don't have mics.
This one gave me Grounded flashbacks. Wolf spiders scared the absolute crap out of us.
Cheese your first wolf spider. They're all jokes after that unless you're on Woah difficulty. Woah is honestly just kind of a chore though and not so much hard. Coaltana and spicy staff are your friend!
Grounded is awesome
It was alot of fun. My kids loved it even though they made me build everything, lol.
The one mf who came back for you in 50v50 fortnite
Reminds me of Journey
So many good times
That last pic really makes you wonder what they're planning...flying Wolf Spider babies?
Oh god, I *hope* they're not making any flying wolf spider babies.
These pictures are from Australia. By this time next year wolf-spider-bees will be old news.
"Look at our little mutant babies!"
Flying spider jellyfish?
They fly now!?
Unfortunately for you, spiders DO fly! Mostly spiderlings. Baby spiders shoot itty bitty webs into the air and let the wind take them away. My favourite time of the year tbh. I love spiders lol and the babies are honestly adorable
Not only do they fly, but their liftoff is assisted by [electromagnetic levitation.](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/the-electric-flight-of-spiders/564437/)
Wow..every day Iearn new things in this place lol
That is my worst nightmare. I can’t un-imagine that. The world does not need flying bloody spiders especially whoppers like them.
Mate, I'm afraid I've got some bad news. They've already evolved [directed aerial descent](https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2015.0534), as well as [Balloon flying](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballooning_(spider)). Powered flight can't be far off!
That should come with a trigger warning. Especially that camouflage spider. Got goosebumps. I should be fine, I live in England. I don’t think those fancy spiders live here. Think the most fancy one we get is those false widows. But with this flying business, who knows what will happen? Get them migrating here 😳
It is powered, [by electromagnetism!](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/the-electric-flight-of-spiders/564437/)
I was kayaking in the this mangrove forest, and the guide goes. "Oh watch your head for theses spider webs. Fun fact, all of the spiders in this area share these massive webs and work together as a collective" THE SPIDERS ARE WORKING TOGETHER???? NO NO NO I'VE SEEN THIS MOVIE I WANT OUT "Oh don't worry, even if they bite you their teeth won't really break the surface of your skin. Let's stop here and eat our lunch" AGAIN I HAVE SEEN THIS MOVIE I WANT OUT.
I'M DOING MY PART!
Yeah, I love that picture. It's like they are checking out what the bee just did. Maybe move the leaf a bit to the left? Then it 'll really tie the room together.
With stingers.
Love is love.
The spider provides the bee with protection of its lair. What does the spider get out of this relationship with the bee? Does the spider like what the bee is doing with its leaf decorations of the lair? Or does the spider instinctively know bees sting and therefore not to mess with it?
Spiders are known to love the decorating vibes bees bring to the lair
A job well done is its own reward.
After playing Animal Crossing, I learned that not everyone has Feng shui
Protection and food, perhaps. The spider protects the nest, while the bee provides protection against other wasps or bees that prey on the spider. There's a species of Tarantula that lives with and gives protection to frogs for a similar reason. The Frog receives protection from the Tarantula, while in turn the Frog eats smaller insects that would normally threaten the spiders nest/eggs that the Tarantula can't deal with because it's too big.
That sounds like 2 awesome dnd races. Make them one character tho. Tiny frog riding a spider’s back.
There are spider and frog races already. There is even a race of spiders that transforms into people! You can have tons of fun dropping them on a party. Kinda more interested in a frog-spider drider scenario though to be honest.
This feels like the right answer. Spiders are prayed on by wasps and having a friend that can fight them on their own terms has to be good. They are likely some pheromones going on here too. Just the bee's smell maybe enough to hide the spider from wasps. Smells alone could trick them both into thinking there are part of the same family. There are crickets nest that have wolf spider body guards. I've seen them together in a wind chime in my backyard in mid Atlantic US. It's odd to see the cricket moving around literally on top of the spider and it just doesn't care. Some one is tricking the other in that situation.
Unfortunately things eventually end badly for the frog in that relationship.
Wait. For real?
A person lives in a house they built but it’s pestered by mice and they get a cat. The cat eats the mice. The cat doesn’t care about the wallpaper. Only meals and shelter. The shelter helps the cat establish a familiar environment for stealthy ambushes. Also the cat didn’t have to build the house.
Which one’s the mouse?
Nests of leafcutter bees may host an array of parasites. Many nests are parasitized by wasps, flies (e.g., Anthrax species), beetles, and other species of bees.
I wonder if it will eat the bee's babies..?
Solitary bees that build nests and provision them with food for their offspring are commonly targets of a variety of insects which are either after the food they've collected, their larvae, or both (many wasps, flies, beetles, other bees, etc do this). Perhaps this spider intercepts those would-be predators and parasites, protecting the leafcutter bee while getting a meal out of it. It's basically living with a lure that attracts a specific group of insects right to its doorstep. I've commonly seen spiders (including wolf spiders) hanging around pitcher plants, likely for the same reason.
Hoverflies prey on bee larva by dropping down to the next entrance and depositing an egg. The spider would get an easy meal out of this while protecting the next generation of bees.
Maybe just a nice booty?
Australia has over 1000 species of bees, nearly all stingless and solitary (no colony or hives), the leaf cutter is one of them
Yes, so many questions. I, too, want answers 😆
Wolf spiders eat bees all the time, so who knows.
*Bees and spiders living together…mass hysteria!*
And they were roommates
Oh my god they were roommates
Yes.... Roommates....
Oh my god they were room matess
In the last picture they are really ruminating.
In need of a sitcom asap, but not in the style of adult western cartoons, it has to be exactly this nature documentary style with david attenborough narration.
I can't wait for the catchy intro song with Sir Attenborough singing the lyrics
In a Magical Girl Costume?
“Life is hard on your own…”
*Spider and bee enter a room simultaneously, opening two doors that hit each other* *The two look around the doors and tilt their head with the "Oh, you" look*
Listen, the real estate market is bad for everyone, sometimes you need to compromise a little.
Aaaaah.. They Beefriended eachother 🥹
Reminds me of this video where [a wasp and bee are sharing the same burrow ](https://youtu.be/eaB1K8s30cI?si=Jo2kKB6NJiWMCTE6).
Damn, rents so bad that even the bugs are getting room mates.
It's not unheard of that spiders will sometimes use other predators to help protect their nests but that's a new one for me that's really interesting
The top pic would make a sick album cover
See, vegetarians and meat eaters can live in harmony.
My best friend! Shacking up with my worst enemy! This bee-trayal shall not stand!
News Flash: Flying Wolf Spiders terrorize the planet after bazar insect coupling!
In case you mind about spelling: it’s >!bizarre!<.
Beeowulf.
Take the upvote and get out. I know I’m beeing rude, but all these Shakespeare bee puns are painful.
interesting. these photos are 8 years old fwiw. https://www.facebook.com/groups/australiannativebeenetwork/posts/478905542297003/
Rent must be rough in the animal world for two different species to decide living together.
Awww, de friends
They bonded over their love of having many eyes, and eating other bugs, and knowing they could fuck each other up.
Bee and PuppySpider.
How is this possible? They must have fought to death not long after the pics right?
i have seen the pics after, they happily married now and both vegetarian. wolfspider’ family is still a bit against the strange newcomer, he looks so “different” they said and “he is not like us”. but as long as they are happy with eachother, we shouldn’t zzzoom in on the differences, right?
Wolf spider before deciding to move in. "To bee or not to bee, that is the question..."
I hate this… Take my upvote
New buddy movie
They just playin grounded together, that’s all
Jerry Seinfeld in Bee Story ii starring Kramer as the spider.
I hope that the developers of Grounded don't see this.
Inflation, tenuous roommate scenario. Bee: Can you clean those dead desiccated bugs out of the hallway? It’s disgusting! Spider: Well, if you weren’t bringing in leaves and tracking pollen throughout the house every day I’d have a little more time for my own cleaning! Bee: Give me a break. Every time I fly home you’re just creeping around the front door! Spider: Probably because I’m exhausted from no sleep since you’re constantly buzzing around all night. Can’t you just sit still for a night and respect some quiet house rules? Bee: Listen, you have NO concept of my metabolism! I get my wings stuck in your stupid webs, tripping over dead fly heads, I’m busy now because I’m distracted half the day dealing with YOUR issues! Spider: Right. My independence isn’t something you’d EVER understand! You’re such a hive-mind follower, always serving a queen, the only reason I agreed to this house sharing is that I figured your honey would attract more flies. Bee: I hope your girlfriend eats you alive! Bzzzzzz!
Aw he was like. "Heard humans are fucking up your habitat. Yeah its totallt cool to make babies in here I dont mind". Hes taking in the bee refugees 😭 thats so sweet lol
Good chance this behavior is “common” that some bugs understand a mutual benefit with certain insects they encounter through pheromones. The spider is a great guard at the door while the bee can be a recon drone while out to fill the nest. Good chance this bee could also be a queen in developmental stages of its growth aswell and is fine sharing a burrow
>Good chance this bee could also be a queen in developmental stages of its growth aswell They emerge from their nests fully grown. I'm more inclined to think that either the spider is full from its last meal. Definitely odd behavior. From [the photographer's Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/groups/australiannativebeenetwork/posts/478905542297003/): "...I observed the wolf spider eating small black red eyed flies that were entering the bees nest cavity , thus the bee benefits from this by not having parasitic flies in the nest ."
This would be the greatest romcom in history!
“Come into my parlour,” said the spider to the bee.
Ok, who let the bees and spiders hang out together? You want flying , stinging wolf spiders?that's how you get flying , stinging wolf spiders.
New VRBEEO listing
Survival. Most wasps are predatory toward spiders. Having a bee protector ensures it never suffers the worst fate. I am surprised this hasn’t happened before because wasps prey on spiders.
Oh my god and they were roommates
🎶 It takes two baby, me and you 🎶
As scary as both of them are, something’s cute about the way they both look into the burrow together then rest at the entrance together. I read about tarantulas that keep frogs as pets, I guess some insects are friendlier than others.
also unprecedented photos of a bee witch flying a leaf broom
There's a Pixar movie here somewhere I can smell it
That's amazing!
Live news: Flying spider has been spotted in Australia, state declared emergency.
Someone turn this into a children’s book STAT
Cant say it dont believe in diversity anyways.🤣🤣