Solitary and eusocial nests in a population of Augochlorella striata (Provancher) (Hymenoptera; Halictidae) at the northern edge of its range

Packer, Laurence

doi:10.1007/bf00164004

Cited by 85 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Studies comparing populations of temperate halictine bees have shown that populations at higher altitudes (e.g., 2850 m, Eickwort et al 1996) tend to be solitary, while populations at lower elevations are social (Sakagami and Munukata 1972;. The same preclusion of sociality occurs in a halictine bee with regard to higher latitudes (Packer 1990), as expected based on biogeographic parallels between increasing altitude and increasing latitude in temperate zones (Merriam 1895). However, a subsequent phylogeographic study utilizing mitochondria!…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…Extrinsic factors are increasingly thought to play a role in shaping the kinds of social behaviour expressed, and the trend for temperate social taxa to largely revert to solitary living at higher altitudes and latitudes is often cited in support of this claim (e.g., Sakagami and Munukata 1972;Packer 1990;Eickwort et al 1996;; but see Soucy and Danforth 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Biology of a nocturnal bee,Megalopta atra(Hymenoptera: Halictidae; Augochlorini), from the Panamanian highlands

Tierney¹,

Gonzales‐Ojeda²,

Wcislo³

2008

Journal of Natural History

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Bees of the genus Megalopta have gained attention as a result of their social nesting and nocturnal foraging. Seventeen nests of Meglaopta atra from the highlands of Chiriqui Province, Panama, were collected at the end of the dry season when brood rearing is expected to be at its peak. Most nests contained single females; within multifemale nests only one female possessed enlarged ovarioles, although some non-reproductive individuals were inseminated. In two of these nests reproductive individuals were clearly larger in body size than nestmates, but body size variation and macrocephaly were equivalent to those found in other Neotropical augochlorines. There was no evidence of a nonreproductive worker-like caste and multifemale nests did not appear to be more productive than solitary nests, which may represent pre-reproductive assemblages. Megalopta atra appears to be isolated by altitude from co-geners common in Panama, this is discussed in comparison with temperate halictine bees, in which environmental dines separate solitary from social populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biology of a nocturnal bee,Megalopta atra(Hymenoptera: Halictidae; Augochlorini), from the Panamanian highlands

Tierney¹,

Gonzales‐Ojeda²,

Wcislo³

2008

Journal of Natural History

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“…Temperature and breeding season length are among the most important factors influencing colony social variation, because almost all eusocial halictines must produce at least two broods per year, whereas solitary halictines need produce only one brood per year . Studies in several species of facultatively social Halictus and Lasioglossum indicate that colonies develop socially when foundresses can initiate nests early, but develop solitarily when nest initiation is delayed (Packer 1990, Yanega 1993, Hirata and Higashi 2008, Field et al 2012. Warmer soil temperatures can also speed up colony development, which can lead to production of more workers or extra worker broods (Weissel et al 2006, Hirata andHigashi 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenological, but not social, variation associated with climate differences in a eusocial sweat bee, Halictus ligatus, nesting in southern Ontario

Richards¹,

Onuferko²,

Rehan³

2015

JHR

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Studies of annual and geographic variation in eusocial bee populations suggest that more stringent environmental conditions result in stronger reproductive skew favouring queens, while moderate conditions favour increasing worker reproduction. To test these predictions, we compared the phenology and colony development of H. ligatus nesting in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada to a previously studied aggregation 90 km north of St. Catharines, in Victoria, Ontario. Despite the close proximity of these two locations, St. Catharines has markedly shorter winters and longer summers. Comparisons between St. Catharines in 2006 and Victoria in the 1980s and 1990s incorporate both geographic differences in climate and temporal differences due to climate change. We predicted that St. Catharines foundress queens should emerge from hibernation and initiate nests earlier in spring, giving them time to produce more workers. Since earlier studies indicated that queens have difficulty suppressing worker reproduction in larger colonies, we also predicted higher rates of worker ovarian development in St. Catharines. In spring and summer 2006, we excavated 65 H. ligatus nests, comparing their contents to 713 specimens collected in pan traps. As predicted, nests were initiated about a month earlier in St. Catharines than in Victoria, but contrary to prediction, fewer workers were produced in St. Catharines. St. Catharines workers were just as likely to have developed ovaries as Victoria workers. About 40% of St. Catharines workers were classified as reproductive, and larger reproductive workers tended to have higher ovarian scores. RESEARCH ARTICLEMiriam H. Richards et al. / Journal of Hymenoptera Research 43: 19-44 (2015) 20 evidence that queens can initiate new nests following the loss of their first brood, overlap between worker and gyne production within some nests, and high rates of independent nest founding by worker-sized females, suggesting that many worker-brood females overwinter. Overall, the distinctly warmer climate of St. Catharines compared to Victoria led to earlier nest initiation and lengthening of the flight season, but not to the predicted differences in colony social organisation or queen-worker reproductive skew. A second objective of our study was to assess how well pan trap collections capture important information about demographic and social parameters important in assessing social variability in sweat bees. Nest excavations and pan traps produced similar results, suggesting that pan traps are a good alternative when nest excavations are impossible.

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“…The nesting biology and behav- (Eickwort et al 1996;Soucy and Danforth 2002;Soro et al 2010). While solitary and social populations of H. rubicundus may form phylogenetically separate lineages (Soucy and Danforth 2002) some halictines exhibit social polymorphism even within the same population (Packer 1990;Richards et al 2003;Hirata and Higashi 2008). While there are no known solitary H. farinosus populations, seasonal climatic differences might affect its sociality through the queen-worker size differential (Richards and Packer 1996).…”

Section: Comparisons To Other Halictus Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In ground nesting bees the size of the food mass and the number that can be produced will depend on multiple environmental and biological factors including the size and activity levels of active foragers in the nest (Gathmann and Tscharntke 2002;Pereboom and Biesmeijer 2003) and the amount of available resources which, in turn, are highly dependent on weather and other environmental factors (Packer 1990;Minckley et al 1994;Richards and Packer 1996;Richards 2004). Repeat field studies of the same population can allow us to make comparisons between years to determine how weather patterns might affect phenology, productivity and sociobiology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nesting biology and phenology of a population of Halictus farinosus Smith (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) in northern Utah

Albert¹,

Packer²

2013

JHR

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Nesting biology and phenology in an aggregation of the primitively eusocial ground-nesting bee Halictus farinosus were studied at Green Canyon, Utah from May to August, 2010. Nest architecture was typical of the genus. Nests were small with an average of 3.5 worker and 13.5 reproductive brood per colony. Most workers were mated (77.5%) and had ovarian development (73.4%). The queen-worker size differential was moderate (8.8% for head width and 6.2% for wing length), indicating that sociality in this species is of intermediate strength compared to other social Halictus species. Results from 2010 were compared with those from 1977/1978 and 2002. Varying weather patterns in the years of study led to changes in phenological milestones: in the colder and wetter spring of 2010, nesting behavior was delayed by up to two weeks compared to the other years. While nest productivity was comparable among years, in 2010 the size difference between queens and workers was significantly larger than in 2002, indicating an effect of annual variation in weather conditions on social parameters in this species.

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Solitary and eusocial nests in a population of Augochlorella striata (Provancher) (Hymenoptera; Halictidae) at the northern edge of its range

Cited by 85 publications

References 14 publications

Biology of a nocturnal bee,Megalopta atra(Hymenoptera: Halictidae; Augochlorini), from the Panamanian highlands

Biology of a nocturnal bee,Megalopta atra(Hymenoptera: Halictidae; Augochlorini), from the Panamanian highlands

Phenological, but not social, variation associated with climate differences in a eusocial sweat bee, Halictus ligatus, nesting in southern Ontario

Nesting biology and phenology of a population of Halictus farinosus Smith (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) in northern Utah

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