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Telopea Vol. 6(4): 1996 
Forager diversity, density and gender 
A collection of 531 foraging insects was made on tlie flowers of 19 Persoonia species and 
the hybrid P. acerosa x P. levis. Tine collection contained one beetle genus, four wasp taxa 
and 11 bee genera representing five families (Table 5). Of the five families of bees the 
Colletidae and Halictidae are classified as short-tongue bees, due to the reduced length of 
the glossa (Michener 1979). Bees were the dominant foragers, comprising almost 99% of 
the collection. AU bee taxa collected, excluding Apis luellifera, were Australian native taxa. 
Bees in the genus Leioproctus (subgenus Cladocerapis; Colletidae) were collected on 17 
of the 20 Persoonia species and on the hybrid P. acerosa x P. levis (Table 5). These bees 
made up over 47% of the total catch. Male and female bees in this subgenus were 
collected while they probed Persoonia flowers for nectar. Five of the nine species 
described in this subgenus in eastern Australia (Maynard 1992) were identified. The 
most commonly collected species in subgenus Cladocerapis was L. speculiferns which 
was collected on 12 Persoonia species. Leioproctus hipectinatiis was collected least 
often and was confined to the Nerriga site (Table 5 and Appendix). 
All bees collected on Persoonia flowers, with the exception of Leioproctus and Noinia 
species, were females. Specimens of Apis mellifera and Trigona belonged to the worker 
caste. Collections of males of Nomia and Leioproctus species on Persoonia flowers 
never exceeded collections of females although the ratio of male to female L. rai/menti 
was 0.50 (and see Table 7). 
Similarities between the diversity and density of floral foragers on different Persoonia 
species were greatest when Persoonia species shared the same site and an overlapping 
floral phenology. For example, foragers were sampled three times at the Hilltop site. 
Leioproctus carinatifrons, L. incanescens and L. speculiferns were the dominant native 
foragers on each of three Persoonia species (Tables 5 and 7). Bees in subgenus 
Cladocerapis comprised 91% of the total catch at the Hilltop site. 
Floral foragers collected on P. mollis and P. microphi/lla at the Nerriga site represent 
only a single sampling. In both species, though, Leioproctus incanescens was the 
dominant forager. Nerriga was the only site at which the uncommon L. hipectinatiis 
was collected and it was found on both Persoonia species (Table 5 and see above). 
Persoonia pinifolia and P. isophylla are treated as sister species (Weston & Johnson 
1991) but these two taxa were sampled at three, separate sites where only one species 
was present. Flowers of the P. pinifolia population were sampled for floral foragers 
five times over two seasons. The P. isophplla sites were each sampled three times in 
one season. The majority of native bees foraging on P. pinifolia belonged to long 
tongue families Anthophoridae, Megachilidae and Apidae. Only 7% of the 
Hymenoptera collected on P. pinifolia were colletids in Leioproctus subgenus 
Cladocerapis (L. sp., L. incanescens, L. raymenti and L. speculiferns) (Table 5). 
In contrast, Leioproctus (Cladocerapis) speculiferns was the dominant forager on P. isopln/lla, 
comprising over 40% of the total catch. With the exception of the naturalised Apis 
mellifera (Apidae), long-tongue foragers were not captured on the flowers of P. isophylla. 
Instead, the short-tongue Nomia species (Halictidae) were more common (Table 5). 
Pollen load analyses 
The Zonitis beetle and most of the wasps collected on Persoonia flowers did not carry 
Persoonia pollen (Table 5). Hylaeus bees foraged for pollen on Persoonia anthers by 
swallowing grains so deposition of Persoonia pollen on the bee's body was usually 
negligible. Apis mellifera and Trigona carbonaria were the only insects observed to 
mould Persoonia pollen into smooth, nectar-dampened pellets to be carried on the 
