Social parasitism is the relationship between two species, where a parasite manipulates a host colony for its own benefit, but to the detriment of the hosts. Most of the previous research on social parasites has focused on ants, wasps and bumblebees, with social parasitism in allodapine bees having received very little attention. The lack of research on allodapines is surprising because social parasitism has evolved more times in the allodapines than in all other bees and wasps combined. These origins occur in all of the major allodapine groups, and in species with very different ecological and life history traits. Each of the origins of social parasitism is likely to have occurred with different constraints and pressures, and allodapines therefore provide a unique insight into the processes that may have been involved in the evolution of a parasitic strategy. The large number of origins in the allodapines is believed to be due to the physical and social structures of allodapine colonies providing a large exploitation potential for a parasitic strategy. Since the social systems of allodapine bees are very different to those found in the other, previously studied, social insects, it is expected that different parasitic strategies and host-parasite interactions will be found for allodapine parasites. The allodapine social parasite, Inquilina schwarzi, has therefore been studied in detail to determine the consequences of this inquiline on its host species, Exoneura robusta. Of particular interest are the behavioural strategies used by the parasite to invade and integrate themselves into the host colonies, the interactions between host and parasite species, and the consequences that invasion has for the social structure of the host species, as well as the impacts of parasitism for the functioning and productivity of these parasitised colonies.