Coelioxys afra

• Scientific name: Coelioxys afra
• Common name: African leaf-cutting cuckoo bee
• Dimension: 7-9 mm
• Habitat: warm, dry places, arid meadows, vineyards, uncultivated and abandoned areas
• Behavior: cuckoo bees
• Nest: nests of other parasitic bees
• Parasitized species: various species of  Megachile
• Red list of bees in Switzerland: not endangered

Interesting Facts:

This species has scales instead of bands of hair on its abdomen. With its pointed, cone-shaped abdomen, it pierces the leaf sheaths with which the host bees have sealed the cells of their nest and lays its eggs there.