Small Hive Beetle, back, beltsville, md
The tricky Small Hive Beetle. One of the banes of bee keepers, Aethina tumida. Small things, about the size of half an eraser head. These beetles smell like bees and even sometimes get fed by bees. As you will see in another post showing the larva, it is not the adults that are the problem to the bee keeper it is ....the bad habits of the babies. Once in the hive, they are hard to get out of the hive or to eliminate without eliminating the bees too. Thanks to transportation these beetles traveled from their native Africa and now are found throughout North America. Specimen from the Francisco Posada...bee whisperer and beetle wrangler for USDA, Beltsville.
Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all
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" Ode on a Grecian Urn"
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