Vulture bees, also known as carrion bees, are a small group of three closely related South American stingless bee species in the genus Trigona which feed on rotting meat. Some vulture bees produce a substance similar to royal jelly which is not derived from nectar, but rather from protein-rich secretions of the bees' hypopharyngeal glands. [1]

2021年11月24日 · Only three species of bee in the world – all vulture bees – have evolved to get their protein exclusively from dead meat, and they live only in tropical rainforests.

Vulture bees are the only bees in the world known to have evolved in order to maintain a diet not produced by plants. Vulture bees have evolved an extra tooth on each mandible, this allows vulture bees to slice chunks of meat off the carcasses as they forage, storing the flesh in their crop (honey stomach).

2021年11月30日 · In Costa Rica's rainforests, these meat-eating stingless bees (Trigona) will slurp on sugar from fruit or sip nectar from stems and leaves like most of their buzzing cousins, too, but microbes...

Vulture bees are a type of stingless bee that eats rotting meat and are also known as carrion bees. They are found in Central and Southern America. These bees do produce a honey-like substance, which is not made out of nectar, but instead from a substance produced in their hypopharyngeal glands on their head. What Are Vulture Bees?

The vegetarian stingless bees, honeybees and bumblebees examined all contained the same five microbes in their guts. However, vulture bees’ stomachs were riddled with specialized acid-loving bacteria allowing them to digest meat without getting sick from the toxins forming on rotting flesh.

2021年12月8日 · These insects evolved special gut bacteria to help them safely snack on rotting flesh. Meat-eating bees in Costa Rica forage for protein from this piece of rotting chicken. Scientists hung pieces of the fowl tissue from trees to attract the bees. That allowed them to capture the insect and study the makeup of their guts.

2021年11月27日 · Vulture bees are able to digest that mess with the help of acid-loving microbes in their guts, according to a new survey of carnivorous bees published in microbiology journal mBio.

2025年1月16日 · Within the Trigona genus of stingless bees, three species — which primarily reside in Central and South America — eat solely dead carcasses. While there are some species of bees that forage for meat along with nectar and pollen, only the three species of vulture bees exist exclusively on a diet of meat.

2021年12月2日 · In a new study published in the journal mBio, 159 bees were given raw chicken as a treat and then had their DNA extracted from their guts. The vulture bees seemed to have developed an acidic...