FNZ 57 - Apoidea (Insecta: Hymenoptera) - Treatment of species
Donovan, BJ 2007. Apoidea (Insecta: Hymenoptera). Fauna of New Zealand 57, 295 pages.
(
ISSN 0111-5383 (print),
;
no.
57.
ISBN 978-0-478-09389-6 (print),
).
Published 07 Sep 2007
ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/References/B2070E05-13B6-4CBF-9A0A-0ACE40FA4796
Treatment of species
Bibliography
For endemic, indigenous, and adventive species except Anthidium manicatum, all known references are presented. A colon after the name of the species indicates that the following reference is not an authority for the name. For the adventive Anthidium manicatum, and the imported Nomia melanderi, Osmia coerulescens, and Megachile rotundata, the most significant overseas references are given, plus all those known from New Zealand. However, and inevitably, there will be some omissions. Because of the huge volumes of literature on the 4 species of bumble bees and the honey bee, only the most relevant are presented. All references are annotated.
Measurements
Bees were examined with a Wild binocular microscope fitted with 25×/13× eyepieces, and objectives of 6, 12, 25, and 50×. One eyepiece was fitted with a measuring scale, and the other with a squared graticule. Measurements were multiplied by factors obtained by measuring metric scales through the eyepiece, and are presented as mm. For each species, up to 20 specimens of each sex were selected by eye for measuring, with an effort to choose the smallest and largest, and a representative range of sizes between these two extremes.
Descriptions of species
Where possible, descriptions are based on young, unworn specimens. As hairy bees age, vestiture is lost and the colour of the vestiture fades. The general appearance of old specimens, in particular Leioproctus and Bombus, may therefore differ somewhat from young specimens.
To examine metasomal sterna 7 and 8 and the genital capsules of males, the bees were first relaxed in a humidifier for at least 24 hours. The sterna and genital capsule were then extracted, and were immersed in a solution of NaOH until the soft tissues were dissolved. Drawings of various physical aspects of each species and of the nests of some were prepared in pencil using the squared graticule and measuring scale, and squared drawing paper, and were then inked onto draughting film. Descriptive terms are those used by Michener (2000).
Variation
Differences that may be displayed by individuals from the whole population of the specimens at hand are presented.
Type data
For described endemic species all known type data are included. For new species, holotypes, allotypes, and paratypes are designated. New primary types were generally selected from the 20 representative specimens, but if the condition of the specimens was poor, and other specimens were in better condition, types were chosen from them. Where possible, type data include the sex of the type, the location where collected, the date, the name of the collector, the name of associated flowers, and the abbreviation of the name of the host insect collection. The collections are:
AMNH American Museum of Natural History, New York, U.S.A.
ANIC Australian National Insect Collection, CSIRO, Canberra, Australia.
ANSP Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, U.S.A.
BMNH British Musem (Natural History), London, U.K.
BPBM Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.
CESR Citrus Experimental Station, Riverside, California, U.S.A.
CMNZ Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand.
LSL Linnaean Society, London, U.K.
NZAC New Zealand Arthropod Collection, Landcare Research, Auckland, New Zealand.
NHRM Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden.
OMNZ Otago Museum, Dunedin, New Zealand.
USNM United States National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, U.S.A.
ZMC Zoological Museum of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Material examined
The number of specimens of each sex is presented, plus an outline of the geographical and seasonal occurrence of the species throughout the country. The distribution of sites where bees were collected is mapped to the system of area codes established by Crosby et al. (1976).
Biology
Altitude and monthly collections are summarised. A ‘collection’ is the collection of 1 or more bees of the same sex at the same time by the same collector in association with the same flowers (sometimes referred to as a series). The collections indicate when the adults are active, but of course they may well be more a measure of the activity of collectors.
Under Host plants, the flowers named on labels attached to pins are presented in tabular format according to the Flora of New Zealand Volumes I (Allan 1961), II (Moore & Edgar 1976), III (Healy & Edgar 1980), subsequent name changes (Connor & Edgar 1987), Flora of New Zealand Volume IV (Webb, Sykes & Garnock-Jones 1988) . Genera are classified into families following the APG system.
For each bee species except the 8 imported species the number of collections of bees of each sex, the number of bees of each sex, the number of collections that included bees with pollen, and the number of females carrying pollen, are listed.
For example, for Leioproctus boltoni, under Hemerocallidaceae, Phormium tenax, ‘female 3/23 (3/10 p) male 1/2’ means that for females there have been 3 collections of 23 bees, all 3 of the collections include bees with pollen, and that 10 bees carry pollen. For males there has been 1 collection of 2 bees. For the 8 imported species except the honey bee the numbers of bees visiting various flowers is reported more generally, or the species of flowers are listed without an estimate of bee visiting rate. For the honey bee, flowers are not listed because almost every flower can be visited.
Data are first presented for native flowers, followed by data for introduced flowers. The majority of bees will have been collected over or near flowers named on labels, and not directly in flowers, so whether the flowers may have been being visited for pollen and/or nectar is uncertain. This must be borne in mind when considering the flower records presented for each species.
The flower visiting data are summarised separately for native and introduced flowers. For example for L. boltoni for native flowers:
Total collections/specimens female 48/157 (24/118 p) male 44/121
Species/genera/families 8/7/3 (8/7/3 p) 10/10/8
means that for females, there have been 48 collections of 157 bees which were captured in association with 8 species of flowers in 7 genera in 3 families, and that 24 collections had 118 bees carrying pollen, which were taken in association with 8 species of flowers in 7 genera in 3 families. For males there have been 44 collections of 121 bees, which were taken in association with 10 species of flowers in 10 genera in 8 families.
Examining the pollen carried on bees to determine whether it originated from the flowers named on the labels was beyond the scope of this work. Further, there is no certainty that the flowers were correctly identified. The flower visiting records of Quinn (1984) and Primack (1978, 1979, 1983) are included from data on their labelled specimens.
Host plant records are almost certainly strongly biased towards plant species with flowers that are readily accessible to collectors. For example, flowers of tall trees are usually out of reach of even insect nets with extendable handles, whereas flowers of most herbs can be approached closely. The flower visiting records for species of bees certainly have not been collected objectively, and the perceived flower preferences of many species will undoubtedly alter as collecting methods improve.
All general flower visiting data for all species of bees are summarised in Appendices 4 and 5.
Information on Nest sites was taken from labels, and was observed in the field. For Associated organisms, all mites on bees were counted, or, for the few cases where numbers were very high to the point where some mites were obscured, were estimated. Identification of mites to species was outside the scope of this work, but most mites were hypophi, or were ‘large’, or ‘small’. Information is presented on other organisms which are intimately associated with bees, such as the parasitoids Coelopencyrtus australis (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), Melittobia spp., (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), and Monodontomerus obscurus (Hymenoptera: Torymidae) which breed in or on bee larvae, prepupae, and pupae, and the 2 species of Pseudofoenus (Jennings & Austin 1994) and 3 species of Gasteruption (Pasteels 1957) (Hymenoptera: Gasteruptiidae). Eggs and larvae of a Pseudofoenus sp. have been observed in Leioproctus spp. nests, where the first-instar Pseudofoenus larvae killed the bee eggs or small larvae, and then consumed all the provisions (Donovan 1967). The larvae of species of Gasteruption which attack nests of Hylaeus spp. may destroy more than one bee immature (Donovan pers. obs. for H. relegatus). This type of life cycle is described by Jennings & Austin (2002) as predator-inquiline.
Finally, under Remarks, interesting factors regarding the species biology, and other relevant information, are presented.