Red-tailed bumblebee

This Red-tailed bumblebee balanced rather precariously on-top of a stone in my garden. What is striking and unsettling to see, are the parasites clinging onto her thorax. Are these parasites a type of mite and are they feeding off the bumblebee? For example, one species, Lucustacarus buchneri, lives in the tracheal system of queen bumblebees. This species then lays up to 50 eggs in the respiratory system of the bee, and the young develop inside the queen's body. However, after a little more research (bumblebee conservation trust) I discovered that most bumblebee mites are harmless and that these hitch-hicker like parasites spend most of the year in the bumblebee's nest scavenging on scraps of food (wax, pollen, nest debris, and other small insects) but in the spring, when the queen bee is about to leave in search of a new nest, the mites climb onto her, so as not to be left behind. When the queen finds a new nest, the mites dismount and make it their new home.

Shot with Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro lens using natural light

Lovely shots, maybe abit to much light tho.

nice looking bee,and info alex.

Great info! And lovely NL shots of a beauty

Lovely shots but think they have been lightened too much
Brian V.

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated. Frank and Brian, think I may have overdone the shadow slider in Photoshop. Should have been content with simply tweeking it a notch in DPP.

Nice find, and good shots (other than the point about being over-lightened). I do hope the mites are of the harmless variety I like bees.