Bionomy and Nesting Behavior of the Bee Epanthidium tigrinum (Schrottky, 1905) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in Trap-Nests

Abstract

About 85% of pollinating bees are solitary, but few are used for agricultural pollination. The Anthidiini tribe looks very promising in Brazil, in the light of ecosystem utility, but it is still a species with poorly scientific research[EdM1] . To fill this gap studies on the bionomics of this species may collaborate on future studies on use of Epanthidium tigrinum as pollinator. Presented research results aims to describe the bionomy and the biological cycle of the bee E. tigrinum (SCHROTTKY, 1905) in pre-existing cavities. Conventional trap-nests inserted in wooden blocks were placed in covered spaces and daily observations of spontaneous nesting as well as individually tagged bees and nests incubated in B.O.D. were carried out during 11 months in Fortaleza-CE. The results showed that the competition with other species of bees for the pre-existing cavities and the lack of food resources or nest building materials are limiting factors for the establishment of E. tigrinum populations. However, once these problems were remedied, the bees showed multivoltine behavior, nesting throughout the experimental period. Data from 16 nests studied showed that bee foraging began on average at 7:50 a.m., foragers collected pollen in the morning and resin in the afternoon, took on average 15 days to complete a nest and there was a negative correlation with the temperature for the number of nests and for the number of cells constructed. The offspring took 43 days for the emergency, presented sexual ratio of 1.2: 1 (n = 66 emerged bees) and a mortality rate of 18.5%. The number of nests constructed per female ranged from 1 to 4 with an average size of 7.97 mm. It is concluded that E. tigrinum shows potential to rational rearing in trap nests aiming crop pollination. [EdM1]