Hollow bumblebees?

[Kiltie]

This weekend, we've found half a dozen bee carcasses on our back grass.

They look like they've been hollowed out; like they've had their insides eaten out.

They were quite far apart - maybe 5m radius.

We have a wall in the garden which has had a bee colony in it. They appear in the summer every year (not seen activity yet but that doesn't mean they're not there).

Any ideas what might be doing this?

[ikarl]

Pretty sure I've read hornets can do that

[Smiler.]

Wax worm larvae might be the culprit, but usually occurs in the nest.

[Nimby]

Smiler. said:

Wax worm larvae might be the culprit, but usually occurs in the nest.

Wax moth larvae don't eat live bees - they just eat shed skin, pollen and other detritus (but make a mess of comb and frame parts in the process).

Edited by Nimby on Monday 18th May 12:01

[Google [bot]]

I know nothing but I'd speculate the bees died just because they do, and ants took their insides away.

I saw similar here with redback shells in my back yard and thought wtf does that to a redback. A much weaker looking spider does apparently.