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  • BBC Wildlife Magazine

    Q&A

    Aug 25, 2022 3 minutes

    Email your questions to wildquestions@immediate.co.uk

    How do bees nest in snail shells?

    NICK UPTON ANSWERS

    The female two-coloured mason bee nests in empty snail shells (usually of brown- and white-lipped snails), expertly stocking, sealing and camouflaging several of these readymade shelters during her short lifetime of a few weeks.

    She collects pollen on her furry underside from a range of chalk grassland flowers, deposits it into a selected shell, and then lays a single egg on it. This is

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