I'm only a newbie, however it sounds top me like what you saw was a newly
hatched bee, that had not developed correctly, being removed from your
hive by a healthy bee. The development of wings in the pupae is, I'm
told, very susceptible to viral or mite effects. I would check the level
of varroa mite infestation in the hive and provide treatment if
necessary. I've seen similar bees with 'string-like' wings crawling about
on the ground near my hive, they usually seem to get wrestled (&killed)
by wasps. I don't have rules for inter-insect species wrestling matches
either :).
 
Graham
Hampshire, UK
 
 
 
 
 
 ----------
From:  owner-bee-l[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:  20 August 1997 10:58
To:  BEE-L
Subject:  wrestling bees
 
     Wathcing the bees coming and going from the hive this morning, I
     noticed what appeared to be two bees wrestling. They fell off the
     alighting board and finally separated on the ground, at which point
     one of them (which looked like all my other bees) flew back into the
     hive. The other bee (though almost definitely a honey bee) looked
     quite different, in that it was very very dark (mine are quite
light),
     and looked like its fur had been rubbed off (ie it may not have
     started out dark). Also, its wings were like two little bits of
string
     and, I beleive, were being chewed during the wrestling match by the
     other bee. It didn't look as if the bees were trying to sting each
     other during the bout.
 
     Afterwards, the dark bee then just crawled around on the ground, but
     did not seem interested in trying to fly.
 
     Does anyone have any thoughts about what might have been going on?
 
     Also, if this is going to happen again, can anyone tell me where to
     get a set of rules for bee wrestling?
 
     Leo Walford
     One hive, London,UK