Mask bees

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Mask bees
Hylaeus nigritus, male

Hylaeus nigritus , male

Systematics
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Superfamily : Apoidea
without rank: Bees (Apiformes)
Family : Colletidae
Genre : Mask bees
Scientific name
Hylaeus
Fabricius , 1793
Male of Hylaeus nigritus with face mask characteristic of the genus

The masked bees ( Hylaeus ) are a cosmopolitan genus of the family Colletidae within the bees . Of them, 79 species are in Europe at home, in Central Europe there are 45. 59 species in the subgenus Nesoprosopis summarizes come to Hawaii before. The greatest biodiversity has developed in Australia. The animals got their German name because of the yellow or white face mask, especially in the males.

features

In Europe, bees reach a body length of around 3.5 to around 10.0 millimeters, depending on their species and gender. They differ from the other genera of the Apidae by their yellow or white face mask and a short two-lobed tongue, which is otherwise only found in the silk bees (Colletes). The female face mask is usually only formed by points or narrow strips between the inner edge of the compound eyes and the clypeus and is completely absent in some species. In the case of the males, on the other hand, the mask usually consists of the entire lower half of the face, comprising clypeus, side patches and frontal shields. The white or yellow coloring can also include the antennae, the labrum and the mandibles. The antennae is clearly widened in the males of many species. In addition, the otherwise completely black colored and very short and only loosely haired animals have small light spots on the thorax and legs. Only three species also have an abdomen that is basally red. Most mask bee species are difficult to distinguish from one another.

distribution and habitat

The animals colonize forest edges, hedges, sand and clay pits, but also parks and gardens. Individual species prefer certain habitats, such as Hylaeus pectoralis reed beds or Hylaeus rinki forests. Hylaeus nivalis can also be observed in the Alps well above the tree line.

Way of life

The mask bees usually fly in one generation in the northern hemisphere from May to mid-September, only some species also form an incomplete second generation.

The females of most species lay their nests in existing cavities, such as beetle feeding tunnels or abandoned nests of other stings in dead wood . However, there are also types such as B. Hylaeus gracilicornis , which create their nests in the stems of blackberries, the pith they hollow out. Hylaeus pectoralis creates its nests in the reed galls of flies of the genus Lipara . Other species lay their nests in the earth nests of other bees ( Hylaeus variegatus ), in loess and clay walls ( Hylaeus hyalinatus ) or in wall cracks and gaps between stones ( Hylaeus nigritus ). Most of the time, the exclusively solitary nests are straight due to the circumstances, so that the individual brood cells are laid out cylindrically one behind the other, but irregular cavities are also populated, in which the brood cells are irregularly shaped and arranged. The individual brood cells are made from an elastic, cellophane-like fabric that is produced from glandular secretions. In some species the nest entrance is temporarily protected from intruders from this tissue with fibers running radially from the outside to the inside during the gathering flights for the food supplies of the brood. These fibers are not connected to one another either at the ends in the center of the nest opening or at the sides and then lie close to the body of the female when entering and leaving the nest. The nectar and pollen pulp introduced for the larvae is very moist or almost liquid. Since the bees have no pollen transport organs, the pollen is wiped off with a bristle comb on the cheek (galea) of the maxilla , swallowed and transported in the crop. In the nest it is then strangled together with nectar. The nest is also finally closed with glandular secretions. The new generation overwinter as larvae and pupate without a cocoon the next spring.

The males swarm in search of females at nesting sites and flowers. They spend the night individually or in groups in cavities or on stems.

So far it has only been assumed from three species that they collect pollen only from certain plant genera or families ( oligolectics ). Hylaeus punctulatissimus collects leek ( Allium ), Hylaeus signatus from Reseda ( Reseda ) and Hylaeus nigritus from Asteraceae . The other species collect unspecialized on the most diverse plants ( polylektie ).

As parasites of hylaeus are Schmalbauch wasps (Gasteruptionidae) known.

Species (Central Europe)

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hylaeus. FaunaEuropaea, accessed December 23, 2009 .
  2. ^ Howell V. Daly & Karl N. Magnacca: Insects of Hawaii, vol. 17: Hawaiian Hylaeus (Nesoprosopis) Bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) . University of Hawaii Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-8248-2674-1
  3. ^ Charles D. Michener: Biogeography of the Bees . In: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden . Volume 66 (1979), Missouri Botanical Garden 1980, p. 300.
  4. ↑ Holger H. Dathe: The species of the genus Hylaeus F. in Europe . In: Messages from the Zoological Museum in Berlin . Volume 56, Issue 2, Berlin 1980.
  5. ↑ Holger H. Dathe, Erwin Scheuchl, Esther Ockermüller: Illustrated identification table for the species of the genus Hylaeus F. (masked bees) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland . Graz: Austrian Entomological Society, 2016.

literature

  • Andreas Müller, Albert Krebs, Felix Amiet: Bees. Central European species, way of life, observation. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1997, ISBN 3-89440-241-5 .

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