Nesting biology of the Australian solitary bee Paracolletes crassipes Smith (Hymenoptera: Colletidae) accords with that of the Diphaglossinae

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 3 years ago

ABSTRACT – Discovery of an extensive nesting aggregation of Paracolletes crassipes in south-western Western Australia enabled the first study of the nesting biology of this species and its genus. Nest burrows were excavated in deep loam in a clearing in sclerophyll forest. Like New World Diphaglossinae, females of P. crassipes constructed vertically oriented brood cells with strongly curved, polished necks; larval provisions were partly liquid and partly solid; mature larvae spun cocoons with flat tops and produced a clear liquid (evidently from the Malpighian tubules) at the time of defaecation. The cocoons of P. crassipes differed from those of other diphaglossines in having solid tops and no covering of the larval faecal masses. Overall, the nesting biology tends to support the inclusion of Paracolletes in the Diphaglossinae.