Thanks, Jeff. You are probably right. I have no beekeeping experience, so I can only guess. It is a frustratingly mysterious object, and it seems easier to judge what it is not, rather than what it actually is.
And I still wonder about those faint concentric stripes…
Hi Kathy,
Oxalic acid has been a lifesaver for my honeybees and in the past I’ve used it as a dribble, vaporized form, and now as an extended release on blue shop towels (which is similar to the sponge method). And I can thank this other knowledgeable California beekeeper 
Randy Oliver for bringing this organic treatment to the industry.
And I’ve posted the graph below before… it’s so important for the new beekeeper to understand the dynamics of what goes on when comparing honeybee brood cycles and subsequent triggered varroa mite populations. I’ve read that beekeeping these days in areas where mites are prevalent consists of first becoming a mite manager…then a beekeeper…sad but true in my experience.
This chart of Randy Oliver’s shows the honeybee population crash end of November…in northern Alberta this happens about a month earlier due to my honeybee brood dynamics.
Oxalic acid applied on an extended release towel during late spring to early fall does a great job of holding varroa mite populations stable…but I have to use the synthetic miticide Apivar in the fall to have healthy colonies make it through our Canadian winters. Fall is also the time that neighboring beekeepers’ bees that are heavily infected with varroa (mite bombs) migrate to the strongest of my colonies.
Once you develop a strategy for dealing with mites, the fun returns to beekeeping…i.e. healthy bees that produce lots of honey.
Here’s a photo taken yesterday of my some of my hives in my beehouse…I worked them over a week ago giving them pollen patties and sugar syrup.
I would doubt very much if an alcohol wash would show any mites at all…but I still give the hives oxalic acid shop towels after the dandelion flow is over and throughout the summer.
Hopefully in years to come I can just administer OA and drop the Apivar.
Hi & you’re welcome Brian. The hind leg of this queen looks similar to what the bee is carrying.
The bee social structure is a ruthless society. Queen bees get done away with, simply because she can’t lay enough eggs. This is after they supersede her. Sometimes virgin queens engage in death struggles, where there can only be one winner. Other virgin queens get killed before they emerge from their cell.
cheers
PS Brian, the other thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is the physical size of the object. A deceased immature bee would almost bee the same size as the carrier bee. You notice all the different stages of growth of the larvae/pupae in the photo @Eva shared, they are all a similar size, which is not much smaller than an adult bee.
Many thanks, Jeff. I see more clearly now why my pictured bee’s cargo brought the queen’s hind legs to mind. I can understand that the diameter of the queen’s rear legs would be perhaps twice that of a worker’s. However, even that does not in apparently account for the inordinately greater diameter of the capsular object my little lass is carting around.
It is also a bit of a mystery why she had not unloaded that cargo before approaching my flowering bush.
I know it must seem I am too much of a sceptic. I’m afraid that’s the result of my many years researching whilst writing and editing technical and scientific books. people’s lives depended on the accuracy of my research. Even in retirement, I find myself always seeking conclusive evidence. I also realise that, as I will never be able to interview my subject, I may simply have to accept the best advice I have managed to assemble.
G’day Brian, you’re most welcome. That’s a great photo. I would also be looking for answers. Like you, I’m constantly observing my surroundings & am easily distracted by something interesting.
I have one unanswered question. We’ve had a few nice specimens of Golden Orb Weavers around the house. I can’t work out why they have no defensive mechanism in place. They hang in their web like sitting ducks. One day they’re here, next day they’re gone. I saw a Butcher Bird make a meal from a large spider once, not an orb weaver though. However if orb weavers are on the butcher bird’s diet, how come they last so long without getting taken on day 1? Butcher Birds are stealth hunters. Yesterday one made a meal out of a decent sized centipede. Then was looking for more. A few minutes later he flew away with a huge grub. He does extremely well while I’m digging in the garden, not to mention all the live cockroaches I catch for him/her… Yesterday, of all things, I was digging sweet potatoes.
Hi Doug,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with it! Your bee house is a great idea too! I have been studying Randy Oliver’s site. Super resource! I also found my local supplier sells quite a few preparations of it.
Hi Kathy, you replied to me instead of @Doug1 , I just tagged him for you.
cheers
It looks like a piece of a flower to me
Thanks, Joseph. Any idea why a honeybee would cling to a flower (or anything else for that matter) while vising a grevillea to gather pollen? Any known record of such behaviour in honeybees?
I suspect the questions come easier than the answers!
Thanks, Joseph. That was my original thought, when I imagined she was carrying a pollen-covered stamen. It seemed to me that the claws of her middle legs were clutching part of the stamen.
I have just received information from the Curator of Melbourne Zoo who believes my European honeybee worker has the anther (male pollen-bearing part) of a flower.
I can settle for that, but it does leave some questions. Has this ever been photographed before?
