SCIENTIFIC EDUCATIONAL CENTER science idea

Bees include representatives of seven families and thousands of species of insects. The vast majority of them are vegetarians, although they can eat animal food from time to time. Only individual bees are scavengers "by nature" and do not collect pollen at all. These include, for example, trigons (Trigona), which live in South and Central America and flock in masses to the corpses of animals, quickly devouring them.
Accordingly, their body has also changed. In this genus, the sting is almost completely reduced, but the jaws (mandibles) are strongly developed, with the help of which the bees not only eat, but also defend themselves. Even the intestinal microflora of the trigon is not more like a bee, but the microflora of other famous carrion lovers, such as vultures or hyenas.
UC Riverside professor Quinn McFrederick and his colleagues collected bees on expeditions to Costa Rica. A total of 159 insects from nine genera, including the trigone, were obtained. The belly of insects was separated and crushed, after which the composition of their ribosomal RNA was analyzed - more precisely, 16S rRNA, which is contained only in bacterial cells and allows them to be identified.
In "normal" herbivorous bees, the composition of the symbiotic microflora is extremely conservative; it is transmitted to the larvae even during feeding, being preserved from generation to generation. About the same composition of bacteria is demonstrated by related bumblebees, which microbes also help to digest plants.
However, in the microflora of scavengers, bacteria that are quite unusual for these insects were found, including Lactobacillus and Carnobacterium. Such microbes are found in the intestines of both humans and other animals, facilitating the digestion of meat food; they are especially widespread among scavengers. These bacteria are adapted to live in a highly acidic environment that is unfavorable for most rot-causing bacteria.
It is curious that the bitten off fragments of the flesh of the scavenger bee are collected in special bags, much like ordinary bees do with the nectar of plants. In the nest, animal food is metabolized by the insects' own enzymes, as well as by the action of bacteria, turning into something like honey, which feeds the younger generation of scavengers. According to scientists, this substance is quite edible, although the composition and metabolic processes occurring with it are still extremely poorly understood.
Article published in mBio magazine
PHOTO: Meat-eating bees on one of the traps used by scientists © Quinn McFrederick, UCR
Source: naked-science.ru, sci-dig.ru