Anthophora occidentalis Cress. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and Its Associates at a Nesting Site in Southern Alberta

Studies on the ecology of Megachile perihirta Ckll. (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), a leaf-cutter bee that is a valuable pollinator of alfalfa in southern Alberta, indicated that the pillager (depredator) Nemognatha lutea Lec. (Coleoptera: Meloidae) and the parasite Dasymutilla fulvohirta (Cress.) (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae) have other hosts besides M. perihirta (Hobbs, 1956). Adults of both species at the nesting habitat of a population of M. perihirta have been too numerous to have come solely from the cells of M. perihirta; also, the wide range in size of the adults of N. lutea indicated that other insects also served as hosts for this species. Mickel (1928, 1928a) found that D. fulvohirta was a pillager of Anthophora occidentalis Cress. In southern Alberts, the wingless females of D. fulvohirta would be within reach of A. occidentalis while parasitizing M. perihirta, as the vertical clay banks that house A. occidentalis are topped by the prairie into which M. perihirta tunnels. As N. lutea lays its eggs in masses on the phyllaries of the buds of wavy-leaved thistle, Cirsium undulatum (Nutt.) Spreng., a favourite food source of M. perihirta, and as A. occidentalis also uses C. undulatum as a food source, investigations were conducted in whether A. occidentalis might be one of the principal hosts of N. lutea too.

CYTOTAXONOMY, PHYLOGENY, AND CANADIAN DISTRIBUTION OF CIRSIUM UNDULATUM AND CIRSIUM FLODMANII

The morphology and specific differences of Cirsium undulatum (Nutt.) Spreng. and of C. flodmanii (Rydb.) Arthur are described and their Canadian distributions are reported in detail. The chromosome numbers are C. undulatum f. undulatum and f. album Farwell, 2n = 26; C. flodmanii f. flodmanii and f. albiflorum D. Löve, 2n = 22. The origin of four North American species of Cirsium that do not follow the world-wide base number 17 is discussed; it is postulated that reduction in number has occurred by translocations. The chromosomes of species with reduced numbers are larger than those of the unreduced species but the total length of the chromosomes of both groups is approximately the same.

NOTES ON BOREAL USTILAGINALES, II

Burrillia acori Dearn. is shown to be on Sparganium; it is apparently not a smut, but fresh material is needed for adequate study. Entyloma circaeae Dearn. is shown to be E. arnicale on Arnica affin. cordifolia. The following range or host extensions are recorded: Cintractia luzulae, Alaska; C. taubertiana, Que., N.B.; Doassansia epilobii, B.C.; D. martianoffiana, B.C.; D. sagittariae, B.C.; Entyloma clintonianum, B.C.; E. compositarum, Labr.; E. winteri on Delphinium brownii, Alta., B.C.; Thecaphora deformans, Alta., Sask.; Thecaphora traillii on Cirsium undulatum, B.C.; Urocystis anemones on Ranunculus cooleyae and R. eschschollzii, B.C.; U. sorosporioides on Aconitum delphinifolium, B.C.; U. heucherae on Saxifraga tolmici, B.C.; Ustilago bullata on Browns ciliatus, Que.; U. tenuispora on Polygonum hydropiperoides, Ont., and P. punctatum, N.Y.; U. violacea vars. on Arenaria lateriflora, B.C. and Ont., on Lychnis triflora, Ellesmere I., on Silene acaulis vars., Spitzbergen, B.C., and Que., on S. douglasii var. villosa, B.C.; Ustilago pinguiculae on Pinguicula villosa, Man., on P. vulgaris, B.C., Alta., and Ont.