Dune steppe bee
| Dune steppe bee | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Nomioides minutissimus | ||||||||||||
| ( Rossi , 1790) |
The dune steppe bee or sand steppe bee ( Nomioides minutissimus ) is a hymenoptera from the Halictidae family . As a western Palearctic , Mediterranean-Asian steppe species, it occurs mainly in the steppe and desert areas of Central Asia , as a warm season relic, but also in Central and Southern Europe . Their existence is endangered in Germany.
features
Both male and female animals reach a body length of 3 to 4 millimeters. The female animals have the metallic-green color on the head and chest that is typical of the dune steppe bee. The abdomen is banded pale yellow and blackish brown. The males only differ in that the abdomen is less yellow. Their slightly slimmer body shape is elongated and there are long antennae on the head.
A distinction to the second steppe bee species Ceylalictus variegatus (syn. Nomioides variegatus ) occurring in Central Europe (Austria ) is not easy. Males can also be confused with small specimens of Lasioglossum males, which are very similar to them.
Way of life
Like all steppe bees, dune steppe bees are midsummer bees. This means that their flight time is between June and August. As a rule, there is only one generation per year (single- brood , Univoltin ), but two generations per year (Bivoltin) have also been observed. For the brood self-dug, 15–45 cm deep nests are created in the vegetationless to sparsely overgrown and mostly sandy soil. These are created individually or in smaller to larger colonies. The horizontally oriented brood cells (up to 20 per nest) lie individually at the end of partially multi-branched, 0.25–8 cm long, horizontal side passages, which are filled with soil after the brood cells are closed. As with Halictus and Lasioglossum , the vertical main corridor ends blindly. There is no cocoon formation in the larvae . For both N. minutissimus and N. variegatus , a solitary and communal nesting mode with 2 to 5 male larvae per nest is documented.
The dune steppe bee is polylectic, which means that a spectrum of different flowers from a total of five plant families is visited for pollen and nectar uptake . These families include the Lamiaceae (mainly flowers of the Thymus genus ), the Reseda genus ( Reseda plants ) and the Crassulaceae family (preferred genus Sedum ) . A hairbrush on the rear rail and heel as well as a cup on the underside of the rear leg are used to transport pollen.
As a cuckoo bee which is blood bees -Art Sphecodes nomioidis known, but has not been seen in Central Europe.
Occurrence
The dune steppe bee has its central habitat in the steppes and deserts of Central Asia and - to a lesser extent - Southwest Asia. In southern Europe it occurs in the Mediterranean area. In contrast, it is rarely found in Central Europe. As a warm-time relic, it only inhabits sandy areas that are easily climatically warm, in Germany especially inland dunes and drifting sand areas of the Upper Rhine Rift and neighboring areas. There are two known occurrences in Baden-Württemberg , one of which is in the Sandhausen dunes . In Rhineland-Palatinate , the dune steppe bee was located in two places in the southern Palatinate and in the northern Palatinate . In 2017, 156 years after its last sighting, it was rediscovered in the Großer Sand Mainz , whereby the population is currently (cautiously) estimated at> 50 animals. There are more sightings from Hessen . In Austria there are deposits in Burgenland , Carinthia and Lower Austria .
literature
- Heiko Bellmann : bees, wasps, ants. Hymenoptera of Central Europe . Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co KG, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-440-09690-4 .
- Gerd Reder, Heike Strücker: The dune steppe bee - Nomioides minutissimus (ROSSI) - is back in the "Big Sand" near Mainz, along with comments on the occurrence in Rhineland-Palatinate (Hymenoptera, Halictidae). GNOR 2017 PDF
- Roland Burger: On the phenology of the steppe bee Nomioides minutissimus (ROSSI 1790) in southwest Germany: Bivoltin and wintering females also north of the Alps. POLLICHIA-Kurier 31 (4) - 2015, pp. 11–15
Web links
- Bee glossary The genus Nomioides - steppe bees
- Sand steppe bee - illustration of a male and a female animal
Individual evidence
- ↑ E. Scheuchl & W. Willner: Pocket dictionary of wild bees in Central Europe . Quelle & Meyer, 2016, ISBN 978-3-494-01653-5 , pp. 309 ff .