Records of the Western Australian Museum 17: 343-349 (1995). 
Notes on the ethology of Rolandia maculata (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: 
Masarinae), a pollen wasp with a psammophore 
Terry F. Houston 
Western Australian Museum, Francis Street, Perth, Western Australia 6000 
Abstract - Rolandia maculata (Meade-Waldo), a pollen wasp restricted to 
southwestern Australia, produces a single summer generation of adults. A 
nesting population was observed in Kings Park, Perth, where females 
excavated burrows solitarily in level sandy ground from late November to 
January. Females carried dry soil excavated from the burrows in a 
psammophore (formed by the posteriorly hollowed head capsule, propleura 
and fore legs, all of which bear fringes of long setae) and scattered it up to 
4m from the burrow entrances. 
The burrows and the brood cells constructed singly at the lower ends of 
burrows were uncemented and unlined. Provisions were typical of 
Masarinae in consisting of moist masses of pollen, the pollen being derived 
from flowers of Jacksonia species (Fabaceae). Nests were visited by the wasp 
Hyptiogaster arenicola Turner (Gasteruptiidae), an apparent parasitoid or 
cleptoparasite of the species. 
INTRODUCTION 
Masarinae are unusual among the aculeate 
wasps in having a strictly vegetarian diet in both 
larval and adult stages. Females provision their 
brood cells with pollen and nectar just as do the 
bees. However, our knowledge of the biology of 
Australian masarine wasps is very sketchy and 
observations are recorded for few species. Rolandia 
Richards, as interpreted by Snelling (1986), is an 
endemic Australian genus with four species 1 . 
Hitherto, no detailed studies have been made of 
the habits of any Rolandia species and the limited 
published information has concerned floral 
preferences and nest locations (Richards 1968, 
Houston 1984, Snelling 1986). Rolandia maculata 
(Meade-Waldo) is endemic to southwestern 
Australia. Houston (1984) noted having examined 
a single incomplete nest burrow of this species in 
sandy soil but nothing else has been published 
regarding the ethology of the species. 
The observations reported herein were made in a 
bushland area of Kings Park, Perth in the summers 
of 1992-93 and 1994—95, and at Neerabup National 
Park, ca. 34 km NNW of Perth, on 13 January 1995. 
In the first summer of observation, adult activity at 
Kings Park was noticed first on 17 November and 
return visits were made on 11 further occasions (24 
'van der Vecht and Carpenter (1990) noted that Rolandia 
Richards, 1962, is a junior subjective synonym of Metaparagia 
Meade-Waldo, 1911, and referred to J.M. Carpenter in an 
unpublished work as the authority of the synonymy. As 
Carpenter's work is still unpublished, I have preferred to retain 
use of the name Rolandia. 
and 27 November; 2, 3, 9,10, 15 and 16 December; 
6 January; and 12 and 22 February). Visits were 
made between the hours of 9 am - 5 pm (but 
chiefly between 10 am - 3 pm) and totalled in 
excess of 20 hours. All visits were made during 
warm to hot, sunny weather when adult activity 
could be expected. 
OBSERVATIONS 
Distribution and habitat 
Perusal of literature records and specimen data 
labels in the insect collections of the Western 
Australian Museum (WAM) and the W.A. 
Department of Agriculture (WADA) reveals that 
Rolandia maculata has been collected only from 
coastal plain localities ranging from Moore River 
(110 km N of Perth) to Yallingup (ca. 200 km SSW 
of Perth). Its habitat consists of mixed woodland/ 
heath communities, the upper storey of which is 
dominated by Eucalyptus, Casuarina and Banksia. 
The soils are predominantly sand derived from old 
coastal dune systems. 
Nesting area 
Nest burrows and females initiating burrows 
were distributed sparsely and apparently 
randomly along a 70 metre long section of a little 
used fire access trail in a bushland area of Kings 
Park (Figure 1). The surface of the trail was flat 
with white sand, bare for the most part but with a 
sparse cover of stunted grass and herbs (mostly 
dried off) and, in places, a sparse to dense covering 
