Checklist of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from small diversified vegetable farms in south-western Montana

By

Delphia, Casey
Griswold, Terry L.
Reese, Elizabeth
O'Neill, Kevin
Burkle, Laura

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2019-01-28

Original Publication

Biodiversity data journal

Volume

7

Pages

1--39

Subjects

agroecosystems , Bee conservation , Biodiversity , farmlands , Intermountain West , native bees , pollinators , range expansion , Rocky Mountains , wild bees , wildflower strips

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia Pensoft Publishers [2013]-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.7.e30062
eLocator: e30062

 

Abstract

Over three years (2013-2015), we sampled bees using nets and bowl traps on four diversified vegetable farms in Gallatin County, Montana, USA, as part of a study evaluating the use of wildflower strips for supporting wild bees and crop pollination services on farmlands (Delphia et al. In prep). We document 202 species and morphospecies from 32 genera within five families, of which 25 species represent the first published state records for Montana. This study increases our overall understanding of the distribution of wild bee species associated with agroecosystems of the northern US Rockies, which is important for efforts aimed at conserving bee biodiversity and supporting sustainable crop pollination systems on farmlands.We provide a species list of wild bees associated with diversified farmlands in Montana and increase the number of published bee species records in the state from 374 to at least 399. The list includes new distributional records for 25 wild bee species, including two species that represent considerable expansions of their known ranges, Lasioglossum (Dialictus) clematisellum (Cockerell 1904) with previously published records from New Mexico, Arizona, California and Utah and Melissodes (Eumelissodes) niveus Robertson 1895 which was reported to range from New York to Minnesota and Kansas, south to North Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi.