Bernhardt & Weston, The pollination ecology of Persoonia 
793 
Amcgilla, Chalicodoma and the larger wasp taxa were observed to depress the tepals 
and probe for nectar. They were not observed foraging on anthers or making active 
collections of pollen (Tables 5 & 6). 
Apis iiidlifera, Exoneura species and Leioprocfus (Cladocerapis) species were the only 
larger bees collected on Persoonia flowers that were regularly observed both to contact 
stigmas while foraging and to carry significant loads of Persoonia pollen (Tables 5, 6, 
8, 9). Depositions of Persoonia pollen on these insects was the result of active and 
passive collection. Females in all three bee taxa were observed removing pollen from 
dehiscent anthers. All three taxa continued to contact the anthers and stigmas while 
depressing tepals to probe for nectar. Although these bees were the only common 
and consistent pollinators of Persoonia species, they also comprised over 83% of the 
142 insects found to carry the pollen of Persoonia spp. mixed with the pollen of at 
least nine other pollen types (Table 9). 
Workers of Apis mellifera and females of Exoneura species scraped Persooriia anthers 
with their forelegs, depositing pollen in their corbiculae or scopae respectively. 
Although males of Leioproctus (Cladocerapis) species were never observed to forage 
actively on Persoonia anthers, their bodies did contact the anthers when they depressed 
the tepals to probe for nectar (Table 6). 
Females of Leioproctus carinatifrons, L. incanescens and L. speculiferus (Cladocerapis) 
showed the same stereotyped mode of floral foraging on P. lanceolata, P. mollis and 
P. glaucescens at the Hilltop site (cf. Maynard 1995). Typically, the bee landed on a 
flower, depressed a tepal, inserted its body halfway down the floral tube and probed 
for nectar. The head of a Cladocerapis bee contacted the style of the Persoonia flower 
and appeared to slide down the style as the bee pushed itself down the floral tube. 
Table 7. Comparative loads of Persoonia pollen carried by Leioproctus species of different genders. 
Bee taxon and gender 
Leioproctus (Cladocerapis) 
L. bipectinatus 
males 
females 
L. carinatifrons 
males 
females 
L. incanescens 
males 
females 
L. raymenti 
males 
females 
L. speculiferus 
males 
females 
Leioproctus (Filiglossa) 
males 
females 
0-24 
Number of Persoonia Grains Carried 
25-50 50-100 
> 100 
3 
12 
2 
53 
4 
10 
11 
99 
8 
11 
0 
16 
