Megachile pluto

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Megachile pluto
Stavenn Megachile pluto.jpg

Megachile pluto

Systematics
Subordination : Waist Wasps (Apocrita)
Superfamily : Apoidea
Bees (Apiformes)
Family : Megachilidae
Genre : Mortar and leaf cutter bees ( Megachile )
Type : Megachile pluto
Scientific name
Megachile pluto
( Smith , 1861)

Megachile pluto ( synonym Chalicodoma pluto ) is a species from the genus Megachile ( mortar and leaf cutter bees ) from the order of the hymenoptera . The after its discoverer, Alfred Russel Wallace as Wallace's Giant Bee ( "Wallace giant bee" hereinafter) bee considered the largest bee in the world.

features

The females are of an intense black color and are more than 23 mm long. The largest specimens found reached 39 mm and a wingspan of up to 63 mm. Its massive head is 13 mm wider than the thorax and has oversized, protruding mandibles with three teeth at the end . The front plate is three-pronged and shiny black. The labrum is enlarged and covered with thinly scattered, upright, rigid hair. The thorax is thickly covered with black short hair. The wings are brownish and shiny. The legs are strong, the tibiae very robust. The abdomen is covered with short black hairs above and rigid hairs below.

The body length of the males is between 18 and 23 mm.

distribution

Alfred Russel Wallace found a single female specimen on the island of Bacan in the northern part of the Moluccas in 1859 . It was not until 1981 that the American biologist Adam Messer discovered a total of six nests on the Bacan Islands (Bacan, Halmahera , Tidore Islands ). The locals did not know about the rare bees.

With no new sightings since 1981, there were fears that the species was extinct until an expedition to the northern Moluccas in January 2019 discovered some specimens again.

Way of life

All the nests found were located within inhabited termite nests of the genus Microcerotermes , which the termites had created in branches and trunks of trees. Each nest was shared by up to six females. The animals use wood fibers and resin to build a main vertical tube in the termite nest, from which they create brood cells and a horizontal access tube. The resin-wood fiber mixture hardens to form a black, waterproof material that prevents the termites from entering the bee nest. The females obtain the resin by scraping small chunks from the trees with the tips of their large mandibles, which they then shape into balls up to 10 mm in diameter by scraping with the labrum.

In the largest nest found by Adam Messer, 25 of 157 brood cells were occupied. The cells used have a pungent resinous odor that is lost when the material hardens. The bees coat the cells several times with new layers of the aromatic resin from wing fruit plants . Maybe the animals use the fungicidal properties of the resin to their nests against with pollen entrained fungal spores to protect.

literature

Web links

Commons : Megachile pluto  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frederick Smith : Descriptions of Hymenopterous Insects collected by Mr. AR Wallace in the Islands of Batchian, Kaisaa, Amboyna, Gilolo, and at Dory, in New Guinea. In: Linnean Society (ed.): Journal of the proceedings of the Linnean Society: Zoology. Volume 5, London 1861, p. 133 ( Google Books ).
  2. ^ FJ Smith: Catalog of hymenopterous insects collected by Mr. AR Wallace in the islands of Bachian, Kaisaa, Amboyna, Gilolo and at Dory in New Guinea . In: Proc. Linn. Soc. Zool . tape 5 , 1861, p. 93-143 (English).
  3. ^ Adam Catton Messer: Chalicodoma pluto: The World's Largest Bee Rediscovered Living Communally in Termite Nests (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) . In: Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society . tape 57 , no. 1 , January 1984, pp. 165-168 , JSTOR : 25084498 (English).
  4. ↑ Rediscovering Wallace's Giant Bee: In search of Raja Ofu, the king of bees. Global Wildlife Conservation, February 21, 2019, accessed February 22, 2019 .
  5. ↑ World's biggest bee rediscovered after decades on 'most wanted' list. New Scientist, February 21, 2019, accessed February 21, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Bee giant rediscovered after 38 years. Spektrum.de, February 21, 2019, accessed on February 21, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Rod Preston-Mafham, Ken Preston-Mafham: The Encyclopedia of Country Invertebrate Behavior. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1993, ISBN 0-262-16137-0 , p. 222 ( Google Books ).
  8. ^ Jean H. Langenheim: Plant resins: Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology, Ethnobotany. Timber Press, Portland / Oregon & Cambridge 2003, ISBN 0-88192-574-8 . P. 233 ( Google Books ).