Gardener astounded after unexpected stowaway hops onto large bee: 'I have never seen something so interesting like this before'

Nature is fascinating. And we will never stop learning from its residents, including the smallest.

One Reddit user shared pictures of a behavior that probably few of us have had the chance to observe, writing: "What is the insect in the bee's back? It looks like a smaller bee, but is it really little bee hitchhiker and not some sort of parasitic species?"

"Two bee, or not two bee," that was the question from one member of the r/gardening subreddit.

"I think you should contact an entomologist at a university near you. This is a pretty wild pic!" another commenter wrote.

And that's what the original poster did. Virginia Tech's department of entomology explained that it was most likely a male solitary bee — possibly a mining bee — that had mistaken the larger carpenter bee as a female of his species.

"I have never seen something so interesting like this before, so I thought to share!" the Redditor said.

And they certainly wouldn't have seen that if their surroundings had been nothing but a plain lawn — or worse, concrete.

Essential for flowering plants to reproduce, which ensures that crops can grow, pollinating insects thrive in healthy ecosystems. If you are eager to attract them, your garden is a good place to start. Rethink sticking to grass — which comes with high maintenance in terms of money and time — and replace it with native plants, which are acclimated to the environment.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, over 100 crops grown in the U.S. rely on pollinators, from almonds to berries to melons. In 2020, the revenue added to crop production by pollinators stood at some $18 billion.

However, as the climate changes, the survival of some pollinators — notably, honeybees — is threatened. Increasingly hot, dry conditions, for example, make it harder for bees to regulate their temperature, and they eventually dry out.

Let's start planting.

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