An interesting case of gynandromorphism in Andrena helvola (Linnaeus, 1758) (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Andrenidae)

A gynandromorphic specimen of Andrena helvola (Linnaeus, 1758) having secondary sexual characters on the head is described.     

Proventricular structure in solitary bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)

Proventricular structure, analyzed by scanning electronic microscopy, is compared among 28 species of solitary bees representing four families. Observations on the shapes of proventricular folds and on hair-like cuticular projections are presented, discussed, and suggested as useful to future studies of bee systematics.     

Pollination efficiencies of three bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) species visiting rabbiteye blueberry

Inadequate bee pollination limits rabbiteye blueberry, Vaccinium ashei Reade, production in the some areas of the southeastern United States. Honey bees, Apis mellifera L., are currently the only manageable pollinators available for pollinating V. ashei. However, a new adaptable pollinator for rabbiteye blueberry, Osmia ribifloris Cockerell, was successfully reared and flown in captivity. The bee nested successfully in wooden shelters and conferred superior fruit set to 2-yr-old potted, rabbiteye blueberry bushes. Pollination efficiency or the percentage of blueberry flowers to set fruit after being visited once by a female O. ribifloris was comparable to that of the female blueberry bee Habropoda laboriosa (F.) and worker honey bees. Interestingly, honey bees once thought to be inefficient pollinators of rabbiteye blueberry were found to be very efficient, especially for 'Climax' and 'Premier' flowers.     

First record of the bee genus Melitta from the Arabian Peninsula (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Melittidae)

The oligolectic bee genus Melitta Kirby, 1802 (Melittidae: Melittinae) is recorded from the Arabian Peninsula for the first time, and from Saudi Arabia in particular. A series of females of Melitta schmiedeknechti Friese, 1898 Friese, H. (1898): Beiträge zur Bienenfauna von Aegypten. Természetrajzi Füzetek, 21, 303–313. [Google Scholar] were captured near Jabal al Mashār, Ha’il, Saudi Arabia, representing the first occurrence of this species, previously known across northern Africa and the southern Levant. Brief remarks and a key are provided for the two subspecific forms of M. schmiedeknechti.     

Proventricular structure in the bee tribe Augochlorini (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Characters of the digestive tract have received little attention in modern phylogenetic analyses regarding relationships among bees, in part because studies on the internal morphology of bees generally concentrate on physiological and behavioural aspects. This paper presents a comparative study of the proventricular structure, analysed with scanning electronic microscopy, in bees of the tribe Augochlorini. Eleven species of Augochlorini were analysed as the ingroup, versus one each of Halictini and Caenohalictini, and two of Crabronidae as outgroups. The presence of a long columnar proventricular fold is an apomorphy for Augochlorini, whereas a proventricular fold with a keel-shaped structure at the moving lip level is an apomorphy for Augochlorina. Together these data corroborate the monophyly of Augochlorini and Augochlorina, respectively.     

Assessing bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) diversity of an Illinois restored tallgrass prairie: methodology and conservation considerations

Bee species diversity and the effectiveness of four sampling methods were investigated in a west-central Illinois restored tallgrass prairie. Bees were sampled using malaise traps, ground-level pan traps, elevated pan traps, and vane traps. A total of 4,622 bees representing 31 genera and 111 species were collected. Malaise traps collected the greatest number of bees and species, and ground-level pan traps the least. Among the pan traps and vane traps, blue-colored traps collected the greatest abundance and species richness, and yellow traps the least. Chao1 estimator and rarefaction analyses showed that substantial increases in sample sizes would be necessary to achieve asymptotic species richness levels, particularly if ground-level pan traps alone were used. Elevated pan traps and vane traps collected relatively similar species composition. Different colored pan traps at the same height collected more similar species composition than did those at different heights, but species composition of blue ground-level pan traps was relatively similar to elevated pan traps, regardless of color. Indicator species analysis revealed 22 species that were significantly associated with a specific trap type, and 11 species that were associated with a particular pan trap color/elevation. Results of this study show that elevated traps can increase the effectiveness of bee surveys in tallgrass prairie, and that a combination of trap types gives a more complete picture of the bee fauna than does a single survey method. These results should be considered along with cost, ease of use, and goals when planning and designing bee inventories.     

Diversity in bee (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) and social wasp (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Polistinae) community in "campos rupestres", Bahia, Brazil

Hymenoptera such as bees and social wasps are regular floral visitors in "campos rupestres" vegetation. A community of bees and social wasps was studied during floral visitation in an area of "campos rupestres", at Chapada Diamantina, BA, Brazil, from September 2001 to April 2002. The community was described in relation to diversity, evenness, and dominance rank, considering the individuals abundance (H' = 2.14/ J' = 0.55) and biomass (H' = 2.34/ J' = 0.60). Thirty nine bee (588 individuals/ 15.742 g) and 11 social wasp species (52 individuals/ 2.156 g) were collected, being the first report of social wasps for the Brazilian "campos rupestres". The main species regarding number of individuals were Trigona spinipes (Fabricius), Apis mellifera L., Frieseomelitta francoi (Moure), and Bombus brevivillus Franklin. About 48% of the species were represented by a single individual. There was an inversion in the dominance rank when the species biomass was considered. B. brevivillus, A. mellifera, T spinipes, and other species represented by 15 individuals or less, such as the social wasps Synoeca cyanea (Olivier), Polistes canadensis (L.) and Myschocyttarus drewseni (Saussure), and the bees Eufriesea nigrohirta (Friese), Xylocopa grisescens Lepeletier and Megachile (Pseudocentron) sp.l were the predominant species. The use of biomass in diversity analysis permitted to detect differences in the relative contribution of species in hierarchy dominance. The comparison between bee faunas from different areas indicates a large similarity of the sampled fauna in Palmeiras (Bahia State) with neighboring ecosystems, although with low values of similarity.     

A cladistic analysis of the nomadine bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)

Abstract. This study compares the results of Rozen's cladistic analysis of the larvae of fifteen genera of cleptoparasitic bees in the subfamily Nomadinae with an independent data set of adult characters for the same genera. Adult characters exhibited considerably higher levels of homoplasy and poorer resolution of cladistic relationships, with multiple equally parsimonious cladograms. However, comparison of a Nelson consensus tree based on adult characters with the cladogram based on larval characters reveals three components consistently supported in both analyses (the tribes Epeolini and Ammobatini, and Neopasites + Neolarra) , one component supported only by adult characters (Isepeolus + Protepeolus) , and one terminal component supported only by larval characters (Nomada + Ammobatini), as well as several more inclusive groupings based on larval characters that are difficult to compare with the adult consensus tree because it shows so much less resolution. When adult and larval characters are combined in a single data matrix, the resulting cladogram closely resembles the cladogram based on larval characters alone, although levels of homoplasy are considerably higher than in the larval analysis.
A preliminary analysis of adult characters for thirty-four genera in the Nomadinae also exhibited high levels of homoplasy and very large numbers of equally parsimonious cladograms. Nevertheless, certain consistent monophyletic groupings, most notably the Epeolini and Ammobatini, were also supported in this analysis. The one currently recognized tribe whose monophyly has received no support from any analysis is the Nomadini.
The relevance of these phylogenetic hypotheses to our understanding of host associations and variable features of egg morphology and oviposition behaviour in nomadine bees is briefly discussed.     

Diversity and effect of historical inundation on bee and wasp (Hymenoptera: Apoidea,Vespoidea) communities in the Brazilian Pantanal

Hymenoptera are the third largest insect order and is one of the most important ecological agents in terrestrial ecosystems, while terrestrial flooded areas are considered priority for conservation due to their uniqueness. We present the first inventory for bees (Apoidea) and wasps (Vespoidea) and describe their alpha, beta, and gamma diversity s in the Brazilian Pantanal to evaluate the effect of the flood intensity on the community structure. We tested the hypothesis that areas with different profiles would present less similar composition, for this, sampling was carried out in the Brazilian Pantanal between November 2015 and March 2016 using passive traps and active search with entomological net in 19 areas distributed in five flood categories. Ecological metrics were used to describe the community, as well as multivariate analyzes for community interpretation. We collected 3342 individuals belonging to 377 species and eight families and expected 532 (±?23) species of Apoidea and Vespoidea. Different areas presented low similarity and the compositions of the communities tended to be different, mainly between the extremes of the flood profile for different families. The biological characteristics of representatives from the highest taxonomic levels (Subfamily, Tribe) are important for occupation of the areas in the Pantanal. Describing the fauna and understanding how it is influenced by flooding history provides tools for conservation strategies in the Pantanal and further effort is needed to preserve distinct areas within the biome.     

No worker reproduction in the Australian stingless bee Trigona carbonaria Smith (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

Brood of the Australian stingless bee Trigona carbonaria was investigated using microsatellites to determine the origin of males. Genotypes of over 1800 males sampled from ten unrelated colonies were consistent with the hypothesis that the resident queen was the sole mother of the males and that workers, either natal or non-natal (parasitic), did not contribute to the production of males. Dissections of 300 workers from a total of four colonies showed that ovaries are present but not activated. Received 6 June 2007; revised 20 August 2007; accepted 12 September 2007.     

Quantitative Aspects of Antenna Grooming in Bees (Apoidea: Hymenoptera)

Antenna grooming in more than 100 species of bees (Apoidea), representing 34 genera of the 7 major bee families is recorded and quantitatively analysed. Most species of bees fall into one of two groups with respect to repetitive antenna cleaning: “Uniscrapers” predominantly clean their antennae with one stroke, “biscrapers” mostly with two subsequent strokes. Uniscrapers are more consequent in their behaviour than biscrapers. Most biscrapers occasionally clean their antenna with one or three strokes. Individual variation in the ratio of stroke repetition is considerably larger in bi- than in uniscrapers. In several species males and females differ with respect to their antenna cleaning behaviour, females tend to be more uniscraping. Most species of the families Colletidae, Halictidae, and Andrenidae, as well as the species of the genera Ceratina and Nomada (Anthophoridae) are biscrapers. Almost all species of Melittidae, Megachilidae, Apidae, and Anthophoridae (except Ceratina and Nomada) are uniscrapers. Bees with an antenna cleaner with ancestral (plesiomorphic) morphology are mostly, but not always, biscrapers, those with a derived antenna cleaner are always uniscrapers. Bees with a derived antenna cleaner perform on average less cleaning actions and strokes than those with an ancestral antenna cleaner. Uniscrapers with an ancestral strigilis do on average more cleaning actions per minute than biscrapers, thus they compensate partly for the fewer number of strokes. But nevertheless the uniscrapers do fewer strokes than the biscrapers (both with an ancestral strigilis). Females clean their antennae on average more often than males. It is interpreted that the behaviour of uniscraping and a derived morphology of the antenna cleaner result in greater efficiency than the status which is ancestral for Apoidea (biscraping and a plesiomorphic antenna cleaner).     

Guidelines on sampling intensity of bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apiformes)

Changes in bee fauna, such as the disappearance of certain species or increasing abundance of others, are very important. The common belief that pollinating insects are facing problems also prompts detailed studies of the bee fauna in order to track on-going changes. Assessment of the state of bee communities in particular ecosystems or ecosystem complexes within a landscape, tracing the course of trends in fauna and also predicting their future structures resulting from current changes, are only possible if sampling is carried out at an appropriate frequency, so that representative materials are obtained. The aim of the present study was to determine what sampling intensity during the growing season would enable the collection of representative materials to evaluate species diversity of bees in a study area. Repeated bee sampling at monthly intervals throughout the period of activity of bees resulted in the identification of 73 bee species, corresponding to 51.4 % of the estimated number of bee species in the study area. When samples were obtained twice a month, 93 bee species were captured, accounting for 65.5 % of the estimated number of bee species. When sampling took place nearly four times a month, 108 bee species were captured, making up 76 % of the estimated number of bee species; the materials obtained at this sampling rate may be regarded as representative. The importance of accounting for the phenology of a given animal group during a sampling effort is also emphasised.     

A new species of Syntretus Foerster (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Euphorinae), a parasitoid of the stingless bee Trigona carbonaria Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponinae)

A new species of euphorine braconid, Syntretus trigonaphagus sp. nov., is described and illustrated. This is the first Australian Syntretus species to be described and the first record of braconids parasitising Trigona Jurine stingless bees. Egg-laying by adults and emergence of larvae from the host Trigona carbonaria is detailed. A 12S ribosomal rRNA gene fragment was sequenced to confirm the association of larvae and adults of the wasp parasitoid.     

Phylogeny of the bee genus Agapostemon (Hymenoptera: Halictidae)

Abstract. A phylogeny for genus Agapostemon (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) is reconstructed from morphological characters, using all species, with four representatives of Agapostemonini as outgroup taxa. Parsimony analysis using 150 unordered characters resulted in eighteen equally parsimonious trees, a strict consensus of which is highly resolved for Agapostemon. Based on this analysis, Agapostemonoides Roberts & Brooks is returned to generic status, and a new subgenus is described: Notagapostemon, which includes the rhopalocerus, heterurus, atrocaeruleus, erebus, kohliellus, nasutus and intermedius groups of Moure & Hurd. Species groups are proposed for Notagapostemon and revised in A. (Agapostemon). Agapostemon cockerelli Crawford is synonymized with A. obliquus (Provancher), A. epichryseus (Morelos) with A. leunculus Vachal, A. inca Roberts with A. heterurus Cockerell, A. hispaniolicus Roberts female with A. centratus (Vachal) and A. hispaniolicus Roberts male with A. alayoi Roberts. Optimization of known behaviours suggests communal ancestry for the genus and infers the prevalence of this behaviour in Agapostemon. Optimization of geographical range suggests a Central American or Caribbean origin of Agapostemon, with one invasion of North America and multiple invasions of South America and the Caribbean. One invasion of the Caribbean suggests arrival from North America via Florida.