Bee health linked to good parenting

There is a tiny species of carpenter bees known as the spurred ceratina (Ceratina calcarata) that behaves unlike any other known species of bee. With their elongated and shiny bluish-black bodies, the spurred ceratina is perhaps best known as a pollinator of delicious gourds like cucumbers and watermelons. At around 6.5 millimeters long, it's about half the length of an aspirin. It's known as a carpenter bee because they typically nest in wood.

In 2016, they became the first bee species to have its entire genome published, and they are often studied by scientists because of the unique relationships between parents and their offspring. While they are otherwise solitary except when mating, spurred ceratina parents spend significant time caring for and interacting with their offspring.

Now a recent study from the peer reviewed journal Communications Biology reveals an important reason why these carpenter bee mothers spend so much time with their young: Maternal care is linked to the young bees' ability to ward off potentially deadly diseases.