Eur. J. Entomol. 100 (4): 631-635, 2003 | DOI: 10.14411/eje.2003.093

Narrow flower specialization in two European bee species of the genus Colletes (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Colletidae)

Andreas MÜLLER1, Michael KUHLMANN2
1 Institute of Plant Sciences, Applied Entomology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Clausiusstrasse 25/NW, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland; e-mail: andreas.mueller@ipw.agrl.ethz.ch
2 University of Münster, Institute of Landscape-Ecology, Robert-Koch-Str. 26, D-48149 Münster, Germany

Colletes anchusae Noskiewicz, 1924 and C. wolfi Kuhlmann, 1999 (Colletidae) are closely related bee species with vicariant distributions, the former occurring in east and southeast Europe and Turkey, the latter restricted to the Italian peninsula. Microscopical analysis of scopal pollen revealed that in Europe both species are monolectic collecting pollen exclusively from flowers of Cynoglottis barrelieri (All.) Vural & Kit Tan (Boraginaceae). In Turkey, C. anchusae possibly visits also Cynoglottis chetikiana Vural & Kit Tan. The distributions of the two bee species and of Cynoglottis coincide. The females of both Colletes species are equipped with stout, curved bristles on their foretarsi used for scraping pollen out of the narrow flower tube of Cynoglottis. Compared to other European species of Colletes the foretarsi of C. anchusae and C. wolfi are shortened, presumably an adaptation to the short corolla tube of their host plant.

Keywords: Apoidea, Colletidae, Colletes, Boraginaceae, Cynoglottis, flower specialization, monolectic, oligolectic, distribution, pollen collection, morphological adaptation

Received: February 12, 2003; Revised: May 7, 2003; Accepted: June 9, 2003; Published: November 20, 2003  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
MÜLLER, A., & KUHLMANN, M. (2003). Narrow flower specialization in two European bee species of the genus Colletes (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Colletidae). EJE, 100(4), 631-635. doi: 10.14411/eje.2003.093
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Clarke G.C.S. 1980: Boraginaceae. In: Punt W. & Clarke G.C.S. (eds): The Northwest European Pollen Flora. Vol. 2. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 59-102
    2. Davis P.H. 1978: Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands. Vol. 6. University Press, Edinburgh, 825 pp
    3. Davis P.H. 1988: Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands. Vol. 10. University Press, Edinburgh, 590 pp
    4. Houston T.F. 1991: Two new and unusual species of the bee genus Leioproctus Smith (Hymenoptera: Colletidae), with notes on their behaviour. Rec. West. Austral. Mus. 15: 83-96
    5. Kuhlmann M. 1999: Colletes wolfi spec. nova from Italy, and lectotype designation for palaearctic bees of the genus Colletes Latr., with notes on new homonymies and synonymies (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Colletinae). Linz. Biol. Beitraege 31: 71-81
    6. Kuhlmann M. 2000: Katalog der palaearktischen Arten der Bienengattung Colletes Latr., mit Lectotypenfestlegungen, neuer Synonymie und der Beschreibung von zwei neuen Arten (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Colletinae). Linz. Biol. Beitraege 32: 155-193
    7. Mader D. 1999: Geologische und Biologische Entomooekologie der Rezenten Seidenbiene Colletes. Band 1. Logabook, Koeln, 807 pp
    8. Moczar M. 1961: Revision, Faunakatalog und ethologische Angaben ueber die Arten der Gattung Colletes Latr. (Fam. Colletidae II., Cat. Hym. XIX). Folia Entomol. Hungar., N.S. 14: 403-412. [in Hungarian, German abstr.]
    9. Mueller A. 1995: Morphological specializations in Central European bees for the uptake of pollen from flowers with anthers hidden in narrow corolla tubes (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Entomol. Gener. 20: 43-57 Go to original source...
    10. Noskiewicz J. 1924: Zwei neue Bienenarten aus Polen. Kosmos 49: 118-127. [in Polish, German abstr.]
    11. Noskiewicz J. 1936: Die palearktischen Colletes-Arten. Pr. Nauk. Wyd. Tow. Nauk, Lwow 3: 1-531
    12. Pignatti S. 1982: Flora d'Italia. Vol. 2. Edagricole, Bologna, 732 pp
    13. Schmidt K. & Westrich P. 1993: Colletes hederae n. sp., eine bisher unerkannte, auf Efeu (Hedera) spezialisierte Bienenart (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Entomol. Zeitschr. 103: 89-112
    14. Shinn A.F. 1967: A revision of the bee genus Calliopsis and the biology and ecology of C. andreniformis (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). Kans. Univ. Sci. Bull. 46: 876-891 Go to original source...
    15. Shishkin B.K. 1974: Flora of the U.S.S.R. Vol. 19 (Tubiflorae). Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem, 556 pp
    16. Strid A. & Kit Tan 1991: Mountain Flora of Greece. Vol. 2. University Press, Edinburgh, 974 pp
    17. Thorp R.W. 1979: Structural, behavioral, and physiological adaptations of bees (Apoidea) for collecting pollen. Ann. Miss. Bot. Garden 66: 788-812 Go to original source...
    18. Thorp R.W. 2000: The collection of pollen by bees. Plant Syst. Evol. 222: 211-223 Go to original source...
    19. Vural M. & Kit Tan 1983: New taxa and records from Turkey. Notes RBG Edinb. 41: 65-76
    20. Westrich P. 1990: Die Wildbienen Baden-Wuerttembergs. Vol. 1 and 2. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart, 972 pp
    21. Westrich P. 2001: Zum Pollensammelverhalten der Seidenbiene Colletes floralis Eversmann 1852 (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Linz. Biol. Beitraege 33: 519-525
    22. Westrich P. & Amiet F. 1996: Der taxonomische Status von Colletes sierrensis Frey-Gessner 1901 mit Beschreibung des noch unbekannten Maennchens (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Linz. Biol. Beitraege 28: 1161-1167
    23. Westrich P. & Schmidt K. 1986: Methoden und Anwendungsgebiete der Pollenanalyse bei Wildbienen (Hymenoptera Apoidea). Linz. Biol. Beitraege 18: 341-360 Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content