Naturgartentipp – warum der Woll-Ziest nicht fehlen sollte

Woll-Ziest (Stachys byzantina) ist eine robuste Gartenpflanze für sonnig-trockene Standorte. Die Staude ist eine wichtige Art für die Garten-Wollbiene (Anthidium manicatum), die wollige Pflanzenhaare für den Nestbau benötigt. Biologie der Garten-Wollbiene und ihr Bezug zum Woll-Ziest werden kurz vorgestellt.

Territoriality is just an option: allocation of a resource fundamental to the resource defense polygyny in the European wool carder bee, Anthidium manicatum (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)

The wool carder bee Anthidium manicatum is one textbook example of resource defense polygyny among solitary bees, known for intense male–male competition, forced copulations, and the extreme form of interspecific territoriality toward other flower visitors. This mating system depends on the spatial structure of the defended resource and requires several adaptations in males. The allocation of patches with host plants as well as male body size and phenology was analyzed over 3 years in the diverse habitat of a botanical garden. Anthidium manicatum males searched in groups up to 12 individuals a wide diversity of patches with various food plants of foraging females. Territories were established in small high-quality patches only. Males abandoned aggressive and territorial behavior in large patches. Available patches were occupied by males of the various body size fractions independently of each other according to patch profitability. The higher competitive weight of large males in small patches compared to spacious ones was balanced by an opposing correlation of patch profitability. Although the mating system in A. manicatum is clearly a resource defense polygyny, males were found to be plastic in their behavior, and territoriality was not consistently observed. Mate acquiring tactics, be they territory holder (bourgeois), sneaker, floater, or scrambler for mating, can be considered to be different behavioral phenotypes within one environmentally sensitive conditional strategy. Significance statement Territoriality is a rare and derived pattern in solitary bee mating behavior. In most cases of territoriality, males defend rendezvous places to meet freshly emerged, virgin females. While this type of mating behavior fits still into the framework of ancestral monandry of aculeate Hymenoptera, the continually polyandric resource defense polygyny found in the genus Anthidium is highly derived. Males occupy flower resources exploited for larval provisions and extort copulations from provisioning nesting females. Territoriality in Anthidium does not lead to a monopolization of females, the exclusion of many competitors from reproduction, and a reduction of sperm competition as is typical for resource-based mating systems. Contrary, Anthidium is a highly promiscuous species and both males and females are lifelong engaged in copulations with multiple mates. Also, the allocation of the resource fundamental to the defense polygyny was found to be more fairly balanced than expected. This study diversifies the mating system of anthidiine bees and demonstrates unusually high plasticity in the resource allocation of a territorial species.

Life stages and phylogenetic position of the wool carder bee mite Sennertionyx manicati (Acari: Acaridae)

In mites of the family Acaridae, usually two developmental stages, adult (males, females) and deutonymphal stage (=hypopus) are used for diagnostic descriptions. Because these taxonomically important stages live in different habitats (i.e. deutonymphs are phoretic on a hymenopteran host, while adults live inside the nest of the host), one of these can be missing or they cannot be confidently corelated with each other. Sennertionyx manicati (Acari: Acaridae) was only known from hypopus. Herein, we describe all post-embryonic stages of S. manicati based on material obtained from a nest of Anthidium manicatum in Auckland, New Zealand, and provide a key to all life stages of this species. We also conducted a phylogenetic analysis of the 18S gene and the D2/D3 region of 28S genes from field-collected specimens and GenBank data. The molecular analysis indicated the New Zealand specimen shared the identical 18S and 99.5% identity of the D2D3 region of 28S sequences with S. manicati from Italy, and clustered together in the phylogenetic trees.

Occurrence and ecological data on an exotic solitary bee accidentally introduced in Brazil

Currently, there is a global concern regarding exotic species due to, among other factors, their great ability to reproduce and spread rapidly through the novel environment. As such, these species often compete for nesting places and food resources or convey pathogens. Anthidium manicatum (Linnaeus) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) is a non-native solitary bee occurring in Brazil. This study aimed to collect data about the occurrence sites of this species to investigate the historical sequence of its spread throughout the country. Based on this, we estimated population data such as the number of males and females, phenology and bioclimatic niche overlap with native species. The occurrence records were retrieved from speciesLink and Global Biodiversity Information Facility. All analyses were performed in R. The collected data demonstrate that, except for the 1960s, the records of the occurrence of A. manicatum in Brazil are few and constant, being notified since the mid-1930s in at least nine Brazilian states. In total, 778 individuals were sampled, with males being recorded about 1.7 times more than females. This species seems to be bivoltine, with generations in May and November. Anthidium manicatum showed a low and moderate bioclimatic niche overlap with two native species, Anthidium sertanicola Moure & Urban and Anthidium latum Schrottky, respectively. These data provide relevant information on the biology and status of A. manicatum in Brazil. However, since most Brazilian scientific collections have not digitalized their data in the platforms consulted here, some ecological features described here may be underestimated.

European Wool Carder Bee, Wool Carder Bee Anthidium manicatum (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)

The European wool carder bee Anthidium manicatum (Linnaeus) is a solitary, cavity-nesting bee species in the family Megachilidae (tribe Anthidiini), a family whose members include the mason and leaf cutter bees. Wool carder bees are so named because the female bee scrapes and collects the soft downy hairs (trichomes) of fuzzy plants to use in building a nest for her young. Some consider male wool carder bees very charismatic and enjoy watching them chase after other bees that invade their territory, while others would call them bullies based on male bees’ aggressive tendencies toward other bees when defending floral resources. This species has been called the most widely distributed unmanaged bee in the world (Strange et al. 2011) because of its expansive native and non-native range. This document describes its synonymy, distribution, description, life cycle and biology, hosts, economic importance, and includes selected references.Available on EDIS at https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in1274 Also available on the Featured Creatures website at http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/MISC/BEES/Anthidium_manicatum.html

Enhancing the Biodiversity of Insects Pollinators through Flowering Grass Strips

The extensive use of plant protection products in agricultural practice and obtaining high and top quality yields results in decline of a major part of the natural regulators and the insects-pollinators. The reduction in their numbers in agricultural areas poses a threat for the pollination of entomophilous plants on global scale. The objective of this study was to establish areas of flowering varieties of grass mixes, ensuring proper habitats and food source for the pollinators of agricultural crops. The tests showed that the plant varieties in the grass mixes blossomed in the period April to June (1.5-2 months), providing varying species of pollinators, depending on the plants species. In the different-coloured layers of the grass mixtures: white, purple and yellow, the following pollinators were determined: Apis mellifera L., Megachile sp., Halictus scabiosae Rossi, Lasioglossum xanthopus Kirby, Melita leporita, Andrena flavipes Panzer., Macropis europaeae Warn., Anthidium manicatum L., Ceratina cucurbitina Rossi and Ceratina sp.

First record of the invasive bee Anthidium manicatum (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in Chile

The Palearctic wool carder bee Anthidium manicatum (Linnaeus) is recorded for the first time in Chile based on eight specimens collected on Lavandula sp. (Lamiaceae) in San Bernardo, Metropolitan Region. This new record expands the invasive range of this species in South America, confirming previous predictions based on an ecological niche model.