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Flower shape and size impact bees’ chances of catching gut parasites

Parasite transmission was lower when the insects landed on long, narrow flowers

photo of a bumblebee on a coneflower

Bumblebees are more likely to contract a gut parasite when they land on coneflowers (pictured) and other short, wide flowers compared with long, narrow flowers like phlox.

Johan/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Rachel Crowell

Bees that land on short, wide flowers can fly away with an upset stomach.  

Common eastern bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) are more likely to catch a diarrhea-inducing gut parasite from purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans and other similarly shaped flora than other flowers, researchers report in the July Ecology.