BIONOMICS OF A POLLEN-COLLECTING WASP, PARAGIA TRICOLOR (HYMENOPTERA VESPIDAE MASARINAE), IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 1 decade ago

Abstract
At a perennial nest-site 40 km north-east of Perth, females of Paragia tricolor nested for about one month in late summer/early autumn while males patrolled bushes nearby, The nests in clayey soil were characterized by mud entrance turrets, vertical shafts and horizontal cells whose cemented earthen walls were polished and waterproof internally. Each cell received a loose egg prior to being mass-provisioned with a loaf of pollen-nectar mixture and plugged with mud. Eucalyptus calophylla was the sole food source. Shafts of completed nests had blind diverticulae and were sealed with mud partitions. Mature larvae spun cocoons, defaecated and entered diapause. Depredators associated with nests were a wasp, Carinafoenus sp. (Gasteruptiidae), and a mite, Tyrolichus casei (Acaridae).

Some distant populations of P. tricolor became active in December or January and fed at another Eucalyptus species.