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Mason Bees
Mason bee is a name now commonly used for species of bees in the genus ''Osmia'', of the family Megachilidae. Mason bees are named for their habit of using mud or other "masonry" products in constructing their nests, which are made in naturally occurring gaps such as between cracks in stones or other small dark cavities. When available, some species preferentially use hollow stems or holes in wood made by wood-boring insects. Species of the genus include the orchard mason bee '' O. lignaria'', the blueberry bee '' O. ribifloris'', the hornfaced bee '' O. cornifrons'', and the red mason bee '' O. bicornis''. The former two are native to the Americas, the third to eastern Asia, and the latter to the European continent, although ''O. lignaria'' and ''O. cornifrons'' have been moved from their native ranges for commercial purposes. Over 300 species are found across the Northern Hemisphere. Most occur in temperate habitats within the Palearctic and Nearctic realms, and are active fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osmia Bicornis
''Osmia bicornis'' (Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Osmia rufa'') is a species of mason bee, and is known as the red mason bee due to its covering of dense gingery hair. - Swarm-like behaviour of red mason solitary bees - retrieved 2013-08-14INSECTS - Collins gem guide /ref> It is a solitary bee that nests in holes or stems and is polylectic, meaning it forages pollen from various different flowering plants. These bees can be seen aggregating together and nests in preexisting hollows, choosing not to excavate their own. These bees are not aggressive; they will only sting if handled very roughly and are safe to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Osmia Xanthomelana
''Osmia xanthomelana'', the large mason bee, is a species of mason bee in the genus '' Osmia''. It has a wide distribution in the Palearctic but it is rare wherever it occurs and, for example, in Great Britain it has a highly restricted distribution, although in the past it was a little more widespread there. Description ''Osmia xanthomelana'' is a medium-sized bee, measuring 12–13mm in length with a stocky, robust structure. The main colour is black but it has golden to brown hairs which cover the face and thorax becoming sparser and paler on the abdomen. Distribution ''Osmia xanthomelana'' is widely distributed throughout the Palearctic but it is apparently rare wherever it occurs. In Great Britain it is currently found only in two locations on the Llyn Peninsula, in Gwynedd, Wales. Habitat ''Osmia xanthomelana'' is found around eroded cliffs of softer rocks such as clay and chalk, among landslips, dunes and in semi-natural and unimproved grassland where its food plant b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chalicodoma
''Chalicodoma'' is a subgenus of the bee genus ''Megachile'' in the family Megachilidae. Species * '' Megachile albocristata'' * '' Megachile albonotata'' * '' Megachile alborufa'' * '' Megachile apennina'' * '' Megachile atrocastanea'' * '' Megachile baetica'' * '' Megachile brunissima'' * '' Megachile canescens'' * '' Megachile cressa'' * '' Megachile creutzburgi'' * '' Megachile desertorum'' * '' Megachile difficilis'' * '' Megachile duala'' * ''Megachile formosa'' * '' Megachile fuerteventurae'' * '' Megachile fulvohirta'' * '' Megachile gessorum'' * '' Megachile heinii'' * '' Megachile hirsuta'' * '' Megachile hungarica'' * '' Megachile imperialis'' * '' Megachile incerta'' * '' Megachile insolita'' * '' Megachile jeanneli'' * '' Megachile karatauensis'' * '' Megachile karooensis'' * '' Megachile kashmirensis'' * '' Megachile ladakhensis'' * '' Megachile lefebvrei'' * ''Megachile leonum'' * '' Megachile lucidifrons'' * '' Megachile magadiensis'' * '' Megachile manicata'' * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthidium
''Anthidium'' is a genus of bees often called carder or potter bees, who do not cut leaves, but use conifer resin, plant hairs, mud, or a mix of them to build nests. Like other members of the family Megachilidae (most of which are called "leafcutter bees"), they are solitary bees with pollen-carrying scopa that are only located on the ventral surface of the abdomen (other bee families have pollen-carrying structures on the hind legs). The ~80 species are distributed primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, and South America. Description Most ''Anthidium'' species have cream to yellow abdominal bands, typically interrupted in the middle. There is no lobe ( arolium) between their claws. ''Anthidium manicatum'', commonly known as the wool carder bee, uses comblike mandibles to "comb" plant fibers into its brood cell walls. It has spread from Europe to North and South America. The males are much larger (ca. 18 mm) than the females (ca.12 mm) which is not uncommon among Megachil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megachile
The genus ''Megachile'' is a cosmopolitan group of solitary bees, often called leafcutter bees or leafcutting bees; it also includes the resin bees and mortar bees. While other genera within the family Megachilidae may chew leaves or petals into fragments to build their nests, certain species within ''Megachile'' neatly cut pieces of leaves or petals, hence their common name. This is one of the largest genera of bees, with more than 1500 species in over 50 subgenera. The alfalfa leafcutter bee ('' Megachile rotundata'') is managed on a commercial scale for crop pollination, and has been introduced by humans to various regions around the world. Ecology Nests are sometimes constructed within hollow twigs or other similarly constricted natural cavities, but often are in burrows in the ground. Nests are typically composed of single long columns of cells, the cells being sequentially constructed from the deepest portion of the tunnel outwards. The female places an egg in ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arolium
The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip, : ''coxae''), ''trochanter'', ''femur'' (: ''femora''), ''tibia'' (: ''tibiae''), ''tarsus'' (: ''tarsi''), ''ischium'' (: ''ischia''), ''metatarsus'', ''carpus'', ''dactylus'' (meaning finger), ''patella'' (: ''patellae''). Homologies of leg segments between groups are difficult to prove and are the source of much argument. Some authors posit up to eleven segments per leg for the most recent common ancestor of extant arthropods but modern arthropods have eight or fewer. It has been argued that the ancestral leg need not have been so complex, and that other events, such as successive loss of function of a ''Hox''-gene, could result in parallel gains of leg segments. In arthropods, each of the leg segments articulates with the next segm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scopa (biology)
A scopa (plural scopae; Latin for "broom") is any of a number of different modifications on the body of a non-parasitic bee that form a pollen-carrying apparatus. In most species of bees, the scopa is simply a dense mass of elongated, often branched, hairs (or setae) on the hind leg. When present on the hind legs, the modified hairs are, at a minimum, on the tibia, but some bees also have modified hairs on the femur and/or trochanter. A few bees have, in addition to the leg hairs, many modified hairs on the ventral surface of the abdomen which are also used in pollen transport; one family of bees, the Megachilidae, lack modified leg hairs, but have an extensive scopa on the underside of the abdomen (see photo). Honey bees and bumblebees have a more highly-developed structure than the scopa: the corbicula, or pollen basket. Various species of bees have other types of modified hairs that collect pollen, floral oils, or other chemicals from plants; such hairs may be borne on th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nearctic Realm
The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America that are not in the Nearctic realm include most of coastal Mexico, southern Mexico, southern Florida, coastal central Florida, Central America, Bermuda and the Caribbean islands. Together with South America, these regions are part of the Neotropical realm. Major ecological regions The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) divides the Nearctic into four bioregions, defined as "geographic clusters of ecoregions that may span several habitat types, but have strong biogeographic affinities, particularly at taxonomic levels higher than the species level (genus, family)." Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield bioregion extends across the northern portion of the continent, from the Aleutian Islands to Newfoundland. It includes the Nearctic's arctic tundra a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palearctic Realm
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Mediterranean Basin; North Africa; North Arabia; Western, Central and East Asia. The Palaearctic realm also has numerous rivers and lakes, forming several freshwater ecoregions. Both the eastern and westernmost extremes of the Paleartic span into the Western Hemisphere, including Cape Dezhnyov in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug to the east and Iceland to the west. The term was first used in the 19th century, and is still in use as the basis for zoogeographic classification. History In an 1858 paper for the ''Proceedings of the Linnean Society'', British zoologist Philip Sclater first identified six terrestrial zoogeographic realms of the world: Palaearctic, Aethiopian/ Afrotropic, Indian/ Indom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a single continent, the Americas or America is the 2nd largest continent by area after Asia, and is the 3rd largest continent by population. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with their Lists of islands of the Americas, associated islands, the Americas cover 8% of Earth's total surface area and 28.4% of its land area. The topography is dominated by the American Cordillera, a long chain of mountains that runs the length of the west coast. The flatter eastern side of the Americas is dominated by large river basins, such as the Amazon basin, Amazon, St. Lawrence River–Great Lakes, Mississippi River System, Mississippi, and Río de la Plata Basin, La Plata basins. Since the Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nest
A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves, or may be a simple depression in the ground, or a hole in a rock, tree, or building. Human-made materials, such as string, plastic, cloth, or paper, may also be used. Nests can be found in all types of habitat. Nest building is driven by a biological urge known as the nesting instinct in birds and mammals. Generally each species has a distinctive style of nest. Nest complexity is roughly correlated with the level of parental care by adults. Nest building is considered a key adaptive advantage among birds, and they exhibit the most variation in their nests ranging from simple holes in the ground to elaborate communal nests hosting hundreds of individuals. Nests of prairie dogs and severa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megachilidae
Megachilidae is a cosmopolitan family of mostly solitary bees. Characteristic traits of this family are the restriction of their pollen-carrying structure (called a '' scopa'') to the ventral surface of the abdomen (rather than mostly or exclusively on the hind legs as in other bee families), and their typically elongated labrum. C. D. Michener (2007) ''The Bees of the World'', 2nd Edition, pg. 122, Johns Hopkins University Press. Megachilid genera are most commonly known as mason bees and leafcutter bees, reflecting the materials from which they build their nest cells (soil or leaves, respectively); a few collect plant or animal hairs and fibers, and are called carder bees, while others use plant resins in nest construction and are correspondingly called resin bees. All species feed on nectar and pollen, but a few are kleptoparasites (informally called " cuckoo bees"), feeding on pollen collected by other megachilid bees. Parasitic species do not possess scopae. The motion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
