Poppy mason bee

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Poppy mason bee
Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Subordination : Waist Wasps (Apocrita)
Family : Megachilidae
Genre : Hoplitis
Type : Poppy mason bee
Scientific name
Papaveris hoplitis
( Latreille , 1799)

The poppy mason bee ( Hoplitis papaveris ) is a wild bee species of the genus Hoplitis from the group of mason bees (family Megachilidae). It is acutely threatened with extinction.

Distribution, known occurrences

The species is distributed from Western to Eastern Europe, in Germany it apparently has no distribution limit, but has only been found sporadically in the entire distribution area. Because of the link to certain habitats and the small number of current records, it is listed in Germany as “Threatened with extinction”. The Rodach Valley is probably home to the world's only proven, continuous breeding population.

Habitat and way of life

The poppy mason bee prefers dry terrain with meadows and fields and is active during the day. Your flight time is limited to the summer months of June and July. Preferred food plants are composites such. B. Cornflowers ( Centaurea cyanus ), but also bindweed ( Convolvulus arvensis ) or bluebells ( Campanula ).

The poppy mason bee is extremely shy and flees when it comes within a few meters. When disturbed, it often disappears in its nest for hours. It is possible that some of the extremely sparse evidence is due to this behavior.

Reproduction

The female digs a tube about four centimeters long in loose sandy or raw soil, which widens at the end. The excavated earth is not piled up around the hole, as is the case with most other soil-breeding species, but carefully distributed within a radius of about one meter. The nesting tube can only be recognized by the inconspicuous entrance hole. The bee covers the walls of the cavity with pieces that have been cut from poppy petals . The purpose of this lining has not yet been clarified, it may be a protection against falling grains of sand, against moisture or against fungal growth in the larval food. It stores nectar and pollen from cornflowers in this cavity and only lays one egg on this food supply. She then carefully seals the tube in which the larva is to develop with sand. Sometimes two brood cells are created in one nest. The poppy bee larvae hatch just a few days after laying eggs. It pupates in the same year and spends the winter as a pupa in the nest tube.

The cone bees Coelioxys mandibularis and Coelioxys inermis are named as parasites .

Synonyms

  • Osmia papaveris
  • Apis papaveris Latreille, 1799

credentials

  1. ↑ Andreas Müller, Albert Krebs, Felix Amiet: Bees. Central European species, way of life, observation . Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg, ISBN 3-89440-241-5
  2. ↑ a b Hoplitis papaveris (Latreille 1799). Fauna Europaea, Version 1.3, April 19, 2007 , accessed on October 22, 2007 .

literature

  • Roland Günter: Observations on the poppy bee (Osmia papaveris). In: BembiX , No. 8, 1997, ISSN  0946-6193 , pp. 22-30.

Web links