Nesting biology of Centris (Paracentris) burgdorfi (Apidae: Centridini) Item Type Article Authors Sabino, William O.; Alves-dos-Santos, Isabel; Queiroz, Elisa Pereira; de Faria, Letícia Biral; Papaj, Daniel R.; Buchmann, Stephen L.; da Silva, Cláudia Inês Citation William O. Sabino, Isabel Alves-dos-Santos, Elisa Pereira Queiroz, Letícia Biral de Faria, Daniel R. Papaj, Stephen L. Buchmann & Cláudia Inês da Silva (2020) Nesting biology of Centris (Paracentris) burgdorfi (Apidae: Centridini), Journal of Apicultural Research, DOI: 10.1080/00218839.2020.1717760 DOI 10.1080/00218839.2020.1717760 Publisher TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD Journal JOURNAL OF APICULTURAL RESEARCH Rights © 2020 International Bee Research Association. Download date 03/10/2021 23:39:10 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Version Final accepted manuscript Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/637738 0DQXVFULSWZLWKDXWKRUGHWDLOV 1 Nesting biology of Centris (Paracentris ) burgdorfi (Apidae: Centridini) 1 2 2 3 4 5 3 William O. Sabino 1,2*, Isabel Alves-dos-Santos 1, Elisa Pereira Queiroz 1, Letícia 6 7 4 Biral de Faria 1, Daniel R. Papaj 3, Stephen L. Buchmann 3,4 and Cláudia Inês da Silva¹ 8 9 10 5 11 12 6 1. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São 13 14 15 7 Paulo, São Paulo, SP, 05508-900, Brazil; 2. Coordenação de Zoologia, Museu Paraense 16 17 8 Emílio Goeldi, Belém, PA, 66077-530, Brazil; 3. Department of Ecology and 18 19 20 9 Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA; 4. Department 21 22 10 of Entomology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA. 23 24 11 25 26 27 12 * Corresponding author: [email protected] ; ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2151- 28 29 13 0723 30 31 32 14 33 34 15 Running title: Nesting biology of Centris burgdorfi 35 36 37 16 38 39 17 40 41 18 42 43 44 19 45 46 20 47 48 49 21 50 51 22 52 53 54 23 55 56 24 57 58 59 25 60 1 61 62 63 64 65 26 Abstract: 1 2 27 3 28 We describe the nesting biology of Centris (Paracentris ) burgdorfi , a solitary bee that nests in sandstone in northeastern 4 5 29 Brazil. The nest consists of a shallow tunnel with access to the brood cells. Females of C. burgdorfi made 1 to 7 brood 6 7 30 cells per nest with each cell requiring 2.58 ± 0.40 (Xŭ ± SD) days to construct. The average cell-building construction 8 9 31 time was longer when compared to other Centris species. Females were larger than males, and this difference was 10 11 32 reflected in the size of their respective emergence cells. The temperature within C. burgdorfi nests was lower when 12 13 33 compared to ambient temperature. Our study is the first to report the nesting biology of C. burgdorfi . The detailed 14 34 behavior of the female inside the nest was also described, which is unusual in the study of solitary bee nesting biology. 15 16 35 17 18 36 Keywords: foraging behavior; nesting behavior; oil-collecting bees; sex ratios; solitary bees 19 20 37 21 22 23 38 Introduction 24 25 39 Many bees within the tribe Centridini are known as oil-collecting bees, because females 26 27 gather and use floral oils as resources in brood cell construction (hardened and 28 40 29 30 41 hydrophobic cell linings) and/or high caloric and nutritious food for their larvae (Vogel, 31 32 42 1974; Buchmann, 1987). The genus Centris Fabricius comprises about 250 species 33 34 35 43 distributed from Argentina to Mexico and the southwestern United States. The subgenus 36 37 44 Centris (Paracentris ) Cameron is more common in semi-arid regions, including the 38 39 40 45 Sonoran Desert of northern Mexico and southwestern United States (Alcock, Jones, & 41 42 46 Buchmann, 1976; Rozen & Buchmann, 1990), Andean regions and the semiarid region 43 44 45 47 of northeastern Brazil (Zanella, 2002; Vivallo & Zanella, 2012). 46 47 48 All species of oil-collecting bees are solitary, although females of some species 48 49 49 form dense nesting aggregations. Centridine bees are important pollinators of wild and 50 51 52 50 cultivated species (Freitas & Paxton, 1998; Oliveira & Schlindwein, 2009) and some plants 53 54 51 (e.g. Malpighia , Byrsonima ) depend exclusively on the pollination services of Centris 55 56 57 52 bees because of their specialized oil-foraging behavior (Aguiar, 2003). 58 59 60 2 61 62 63 64 65 53 In Brazil, the best-studied Centris species are those that nest in vacant beetle 1 2 54 burrows in dead trees, pre-existing cavities, and especially in the drilled holes of wooden 3 4 5 55 trap nests, such as C. analis Fabricius and C. tarsata Smith (Garófalo, Camillo, & 6 7 56 Serrano, 1989). Studies of ground-nesting species are less common (Aguiar & 8 9 10 57 Gaglianone, 2003). In Paracentris there are studies of only 6 other species (out of 59): C. 11 12 58 nigerrima Spinola (Janvier, 1926) in Chile, C. autrani Vachal (probably C. neffi Moure) 13 14 15 59 in Bolivia (Janvier, 1955), C. rhodopus Cockerell, C. cockerelli Cockerell, C. 16 17 60 caesalpiniae Cockerell and C. pallida Fox (Rozen & Buchmann, 1990) conducted in 18 19 20 61 Arizona, USA. In Brazil we found a nesting aggregation of Centris (Paracentris ) 21 22 62 burgdorfi Friese, in northeastern Natal, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Brazil. 23 24 63 This species is widely distributed, occurring in other states within the northeastern region 25 26 27 64 and central and south Brazil (Silveira, Melo, & Almeida, 2002; Zanella, 2002). 28 29 65 This study investigates the nesting biology of C. burgdorfi in a stabilized 30 31 32 66 sandstone dune (“fossilized dunes”) region of coastal Brazil. To our knowledge, there is 33 34 67 no previously published information about the nesting behavior of C. burgdorfi . The 35 36 37 68 mating biology and the plasticity of the trophic niche of this bee have been published 38 39 69 elsewhere (Sabino, Silva, & Alves-dos-Santos, 2017; Sabino, Alves-dos-Santos, & Silva, 40 41 70 2018). Here, we evaluate the activity periods and construction of nests of the species. We 42 43 44 71 sought to answer the following questions: 1) How many nests does a female provision in 45 46 72 her lifetime, and how many brood cells do these nests contain? 2) How much time do 47 48 49 73 females spend on nest and cell construction? 3) How long are foraging trips for pollen 50 51 74 and oil? 4) How long do females spend provisioning their nests? 5) What are the seasonal 52 53 54 75 emergence and activity periods of the adult bees? 6) Is C. burgdorfi protandric with males 55 56 76 emerging first? 7) What insect parasites are associated with this species? 8) Do the cells 57 58 59 77 in which males versus females develop differ in size and shape? 60 3 61 62 63 64 65 78 1 2 79 Materials and methods 3 4 5 6 7 80 Centris burgdorfi nesting behavior 8 9 81 We located a nesting aggregation of C. burgdorfi within a coastal dunes region 10 11 82 close to the city of Natal, RN, in the northeastern of Brazil (05°36.310’S, 35°14.435’W; 12 13 14 83 elevation: 41m). The average annual temperature is 26.7 °C and the rainy season extends 15 16 84 from March to August, with an average annual rainfall of 1643.48 mm (INMET / UFRN, 17 18 19 85 2002). 20 21 86 The nesting season of C. burgdorfi is between April and July. The behavior of 22 23 24 87 foraging and nesting females was observed for two successive breeding seasons, during 25 26 88 19 consecutive days of observation in 2014 (April 21 th to May 9 th - 247 hours of 27 28 89 observations) and 17 consecutive days of observation in 2015 (May 25 th to June 10 th - 29 30 31 90 208 hours of observations). The fieldwork was conducted daily from 04:30 h to 17:30 h. 32 33 91 In this location at this time of year, the sun rises at 05:15 h and sets at 17:30 h. 34 35 36 92 Centris burgdorfi females always built nests in a formation of sandstone dunes. 37 38 93 We did not find them nesting anywhere else. The dunes exhibit sharp discontinuities in 39 40 41 94 the ground surface, forming slopes reaching 50 meters high (Neto, Costa, Severo, Júnior, 42 43 95 & Scudelari, 2005) dating to between the upper Pleistocene and the Holocene (Nogueira, 44 45 96 1981). 46 47 48 49 50 97 Nest architecture and adult emergence 51 52 98 Measurements were made of nest entrances and lateral tunnels leading to brood 53 54 99 cells. Some nests (n = 20) were excavated completely, and the cells were taken to the 55 56 57 100 laboratory in April 2011, February 2012 and April 2014 for analyses. Brood cells were 58 59 101 separated into individual vials and maintained in an incubator (FANEM-347 CDG) at the 60 4 61 62 63 64 65 102 same internal temperature (about 28 °C) as found within outdoor nests. After all bees had 1 2 103 emerged, their sex ratios and parasitism rates were determined. To test for any correlation 3 4 5 104 between the sexes and the sizes of their brood cells, intertegular distance for 25 males and 6 7 105 25 females was measured (Cane, 1987).