Science And Sciencibility
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Tuesday, 27 January 2026
First animals known to fake the smell of flowers
Larvae of the European blister beetle (
Meloe proscarabaeus
) mimic the scent of flowers to find a ride to their next meal. The larvae produce floral-smelling compounds to lure bees, then hitchhike back to the bees’ nest and eat the eggs they find there. This trickery is the first known example of an animal imitating the scent of a flower.
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