Biology of Palaearctic Wainia bees of the subgenus Caposmia including a short review on snail shell nesting in osmiine bees (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae)

By

Müller, Andreas
Praz, Christophe J.
Dorchin, Achik

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2018

Original Publication

Journal of Hymenoptera research

Volume

65

Pages

61-89

Subjects

Apiformes , Asteroideae , Carduoideae , desert , DNA barcoding , host plant preference , Nesting behaviour , Sphincterochila

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Washington, D.C International Society of Hymenopterists

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jhr.65.27704

 

Abstract

Wainia, a species-poor genus of osmiine bees, contains two Palaearctic species, whose biologies are unknown. In the present publication, we describe the nesting site and nest architecture ofW.sexsignataand analyse the pollen host spectra ofW.sexsignataandW.eremoplanaby microscopical analysis of larval faeces and female scopal contents.W.sexsignatanests in empty snail shells. It uses large petal pieces of yellow flowered Asteroideae to separate the linearly arranged brood cells and to construct a series of partitions between the outermost cell and the final nest closure, which consists of masticated green leaves.W.sexsignatais recorded as a new host of the meloid beetleSitarobrachysthoracica. Both PalaearcticWainiaspecies have a strong preference for Asteraceae as pollen hosts, but occasionally also collect pollen on other plant taxa. A literature survey revealed that nesting in empty snail shells is widespread among osmiine bees: obligate snail shell nesting is assumed to have independently evolved at least twelve times in their evolutionary history and to occur in at least 56 species belonging to 4 genera and 14 subgenera.