NOTES ON THE ETHOLOGY OF ROLANDIA MACULATA (HYMENOPTERA VESPIDAE MASARINAE), A POLLEN WASP WITH A PSAMMOPHORE

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 1 decade ago

Abstract - Rolandia maculata (Meade-Waldo), a pollen wasp restricted to southwestern Australia, produces a single summer generation of adults. A nesting population was observed in Kings Park, Perth, where females excavated burrows solitarily in level sandy ground from late November to January. Females carried dry soil excavated from the burrows in a psammophore (formed by the posterioriy hollowed head capsule, propleura and fore legs, all of which bear fringes of long setae) and scattered it up to 4m from the burrow entrances.

The burrows and the brood cells constructed singly at the lower ends of burrows were uncemented and unlined. Provisions were typical of Masarinae in consisting of moist masses of pollen, the pollen being derived from flowers of Jacksonia species (Fabaceae). Nests were visited by the wasp Hyptiogaster arenicola Turner (Gasteruptiidae), an apparent parasitoid or cleptoparasite of the species.