What's in this cell?

[Antipodes]

Going through the hive this arvo looking to remove the lowest box when I noticed an odd looking cell. Something is embedded in what looks like pollen. Anyone keen to take a guess as to what the something is or have seen anything like it before?

The first photo shows the cell in question and the second shows it in relation to the frame it sits in.

I'll carefully dig into it later to hopefully reveal more of it.....

 

[Murox]

Interesting little lump. No idea what it might be really. I see one or two of the surrounding cells have been deformed a little - my guess is a piece of gravel that became embedded when you laid the frame down flat at some point.

 

[pargyle]

Looks like the back of a woodlouse to me -I regularly see them under the roof and on the inspection board - was it having a feed of pollen and the bees killed it but it's too awkward for them to remove - looks like all the cells around it have been cleaned.

You have some interesting ones over there.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/zosterops/15959105111/

 

[Murox]

Ahha - I had wondered about a woodlouse but thought it was the wrong colour - never thought about it being from Tas !

 

[Antipodes]

I'm reckoning along the same lines. First of all I thought it was the back of a beetle and then noticed the segments. At this stage I'm guessing it's part of a Portugese millipede...for some reason the bees haven't removed it, whatever it is and just packed all around it with pollen.

 

[Antipodes]

Portugese millipede, but not sitting in pollen as I thought it was. It was well and truly embedded in propolis of course! Not a segment either, but the whole thing.

 

[Popparand]

Portugese millipede, but not sitting in pollen as I thought it was. It was well and truly embedded in propolis of course! Not a segment either, but the whole thing.

If a foreign object is too big for the bees to remove (e.g. dead mouse) they will embalm it in propolis and there it will remain for all posterity (unless you remove it yourself!)

 

[Parsonage Bees]

Here's another one.

What are they up to here? I have no clue and I left this cell alone.

 

[Ian123]

Here's another one.

What are they up to here? I have no clue and I left this cell alone.

Looks like a capped drone cell to me and the surrounding comb has been chewed back giving it a elongated appearance.