Sorry to the squeamish among you, but this story just had to be shared. An Australian couple recently tied the knot, and shared their wedding night with some pretty unsavory characters - maggots.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Steve and Leigh Buttel of Sydney spent months planning their special day. Their wedding cost $30,000, including the rental of four cottages for the happy couple and their family members. After the ceremony and reception, everyone retired to their rooms for the night. And that's when the fun began.

One guest abandoned his bed for the couch after waking up with insect bites. Another abandoned the cottage entirely, after a bat flew out of the fireplace and around the room.

The newlyweds got the nicest surprise of all. Upon turning down the bed, they discovered the bed linens were teeming with maggots. The source of the wiggling larvae seemed to be a dead bat that lay on the shelf above their bed. Needless to say, there was no marital bless that evening.

Michelle Provencal, a resident of Palm Bay, FL, is trying to make a difference. Even with a 1/4 acre lot, she knew she could do something to help provide habitat for a declining species. Hearing that honey bees were in trouble, she decided to become a beekeeper and set up some hive boxes in her yard.

Photo: © Matt Cardy/Stringer/Getty Images

Does this story sound familiar? Then you know what happens in scene two - enter the neighbor, who's scared of bees. In fact, she claims she was stung recently by what she thinks was a honey bee. Michelle's honey bee. So the neighbor calls city hall and demands something be done about these dangerous creatures being unleashed on the neighborhood.

Michelle receives a violation notice from Code Enforcement, informing her that her bee hive is a prohibited use in her residentially-zoned part of Palm Bay. The bees must go. She's been granted a public hearing, scheduled Jan. 22nd, to appeal her case.

To her credit, Michelle follows all the established Best Management Practices and Good Neighbor Guidelines for beekeeping. She maintains just one hive on her lot, which is large enough for two. She installed a 6' fence so her bees would fly above her neighbors' yards when they head out to forage for nectar and pollen. Her hive passed inspection by the state's Apiary Inspection division.

Charles Bronson, Florida's Commissioner of Agriculture, stands solidly behind Michelle, and wrote a letter on her behalf. He argues she is providing a significant benefit to the environment and to her neighbors. Mr. Bronson also asserts that by removing her domesticated honey bees from the area, the city would create an ecological void and increase the chance that African bees, aka "killer" bees, would move in to her neighborhood.

Michelle asked Ubaldo Diaz, who is responsible for removing feral bee colonies in Palm Bay, what would happen if her bees were feral, and not domesticated. Mr. Diaz explained that in the case of feral bees, even if her neighbors complained about their presence, he could not remove them without her consent. So, in the city's eyes, she would be well within her rights to keep a feral bee colony on her property, but her well-managed, unaggressive domesticated bees are deemed a nuisance.

We need people like Michelle Provencal and Marygael Meister, people willing to fight to change laws predicated on an irrational fear of insects. I sincerely hope the officials in Palm Bay, FL, will listen to the bee experts, and not to the charges made by one entomophobic neighbor who was probably stung by a wasp, and not a bee, in the first place.

What do you think? Should cities be able to ban backyard beekeeping?

Thanks to everyone who participated in last week's "Bug of the Week" challenge. Cuckoowasp correctly identified them as sawfly larvae, and placed them in the Diprionidae family, the conifer sawflies. And NJTF offered a correct common name - the white pine sawfly. They also go by the scientific name Neodiprion pinetum.

Ready for this week's mystery insect? Head over to the forum to get some clues and post a guess.

Photo: © Debbie Hadley, WILD Jersey

In most ant colonies, one queen has all the fun while her attendants get stuck with the chores. The rules of ant society forbid the female workers from reproducing, so they remain sterile.

As in any caste system, every once in a while a worker rebels. A worker ant - we'll call her Norma Rae - stands up for herself and sheds her infertility in the hope of immortality through offspring. She chooses her own needs over those of the colony, hoping her philandering will go unnoticed.

A cheater, given away by fertility hydrocarbons, is bitten by nestmates during policing.
Photo: Adrian Smith, © Copyright Arizona Board of Regents.

Unfortunately for her, it won't. A scientific team at Arizona State University recently published findings that show the cheating ant wears her crime on her cuticle, quite literally. Once her celibacy is broken, her outer cuticle is imprinted with hydrocarbons that announce her fertility to the thousands of ants around her. Punishment is swift, as the loyal workers "police" the offending ant, biting her back into submission.

If only it was this easy to root out the liars and cheaters in our own society.