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"Bee species with little known nesting-behavior..." Topic


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©1994-2024 Bill Armintrout
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Tango0104 Mar 2017 3:37 p.m. PST

… observed to use plastic instead of leaves.

"Little is known about the nesting activities of some lineages of megachiline bees. Dr. Sarah Gess, affiliated with both Albany Museum and Rhodes University, South Africa, and Peter Roosenschoon, Conservation Officer at the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, United Arab Emirates, made use of their earlier observations gathered during a survey on flower visitation in the spring of 2015, to fill some gaps in the knowledge of of three species from such lineages.

Among their findings, published in the open access Journal of Hymenoptera Research, is a curious instance of a bee attempting to build brood cells using green pieces of plastic. Having examined two nests of the leafcutter bee species Megachile (Eurymella) patellimana, they report that one of the females nested in burrows in compacted sandy ground beneath a plant, and the other -- in the banks of an irrigation furrow.

However, while the former was seen carrying a freshly cut leaf, the latter seemed to have discovered a curious substitute in the form of green plastic. Later on, upon checking the nest, the researchers found that the phenomenon they had observed was no isolated incident -- at least six identical pieces of narrow, tough, green plastic were grouped together in an apparent attempt to construct a cell. It turns out that the bee had been deliberately cutting off approximately 10-milimetre-long pieces with its large and strong toothed mandibles, before bringing them back to the nest…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian04 Mar 2017 5:51 p.m. PST

Recycling scraps of plastic discard… how wargaming of them! evil grin

Tango0105 Mar 2017 3:45 p.m. PST

(smile)


Amicalement
Armand

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