A Unique Nest-Protection Strategy in a New Species of Spider Wasp

Staab, Michael; Ohl, Michael; Zhu, Chao‐Dong; Klein, Alexandra‐Maria

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0101592

Cited by 1,175 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“…Occupied nests, which can easily be distinguished due to their characteristic closing pluck (see Staab et al ., for an illustration), were collected every 4 weeks (from the end of April until the end of October in 2011). They contained nests of bees and wasps and were immediately replaced after collection with fresh reed internodes of similar diameters.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and specificity of host‐natural enemy interactions in an urban‐rural interface

Pereira-Peixoto

Pufal

Staab

et al. 2016

Ecological Entomology

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1. Urbanisation and agricultural intensification cause the replacement of natural ecosystems but might also create novel habitats in urban and rural ecosystems promoting some insect communities by providing food and nesting resources.2. This study investigated how host-natural enemy communities change in urban and rural landscapes and their transitional zone, the urban-rural interface, by using trap nests for cavity-nesting Hymenoptera in gardens and rapeseed fields that were either isolated or paired in the urban-rural interface.3. Host dynamics were important for natural enemy occurrence, species richness and parasitism rates, and landscape effects were evident for natural enemy variables except for the richness of bee natural enemies. The number of parasitised brood cells was at its highest in the urban-rural interface, but the highest parasitism rates of bees were observed in isolated gardens. Parasitism rates of bees were negatively affected by host abundance, while parasitism rates of wasps were positively affected.4. Higher specialisation and lower connectivity of host-natural enemy interactions were found in paired habitats than in isolated habitats. This indicates that paired habitats comprise more specific natural enemies and vulnerable interactions, while isolated habitats comprise more generalist natural enemies, and thus interactions appear more stable.5. These results confirm that host dynamics play an essential role in the abundance and richness of natural enemies and drive parasitism. However, high habitat heterogeneity found in the urban-rural interface can also have an effect on host-natural enemy communities. This highlights that the provisioning of resources in the urban-rural interface can benefit insect communities in these areas.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and specificity of host‐natural enemy interactions in an urban‐rural interface

Pereira-Peixoto

Pufal

Staab

et al. 2016

Ecological Entomology

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“…Of each species, we first tried to rear the adults; only for nests with more than three larvae we conserved some brood for morphological studies. From each hymenopteran nest, all living larvae were taken, placed in Eppendorf 1.5 ml micro-tubes, which were closed with cotton wool, left in the laboratory conditions and reared similarly as was described by [ 27 ]. The adults usually hatched within three to four weeks after the pupation and then we fixed them (as well as unreared larvae) in 96% ethanol.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Larvae and Nests of Six Aculeate Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) Nesting in Reed Galls Induced by Lipara spp. (Diptera: Chloropidae) with a Review of Species Recorded

2015

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Wetland species of aculeate Hymenoptera are poorly known, even though many of them may serve as diagnostic or flagship species in nature conservation. Here we examined 6,018 galls induced ≥1 year prior their collection by the chloropid flies Lipara spp. The galls were collected at 34 sites in Central Europe. We examined 1,389 nests (4,513 individuals) of nine species, part of which were parasitized by one dipteran and two chrysidid parasitoid species. We describe the nests of seven dominant species and larvae of four species (Pemphredon fabricii, Trypoxylon deceptorium, Hoplitis leucomelana and Hylaeus pectoralis) and two parasitoids (Trichrysis cyanea and Thyridanthrax fenestratus, both in nests of Pemphredon fabricii and Trypoxylon deceptorium). All the species, but H. pectoralis, preferred robust galls at very thin stalks (induced typically by Lipara lucens) over the narrow galls on thick stalks. The larvae of P. fabricii and T. deceptorium resembled strongly their sibling species (Pemphredon lethifer and Trypoxylon attenuatum sensu lato, respectively). The larvae of T. fenestratus showed features different from those previously described. By hatching set of another 10,583 galls induced by Lipara spp. ≥1 year prior their collection, we obtained 4,469 individuals of 14 nesting hymenopteran species, two cleptoparasites, three chrysidid and one dipteran parasitoid. Of these species, four new nesting species have been recorded for the first time in galls induced by Lipara spp.: Chelostoma campanularum, Heriades rubicola, Pseudoanthidium lituratum and Hylaeus incongruus. We also provide first records of their nest cleptoparasites Stelis breviuscula and Stelis ornatula, and the parasitoid Holopyga fastuosa generosa. Thyridanthrax fenestratus formed strong populations in nests of Pemphredon fabricii and Trypoxylon deceptorium, which are both newly recorded hosts for T. fenestratus. The descriptions provided here allow for the first time to identify the larvae of the most widespread central European aculeate hymenopteran reed gall specialists.

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“…Research using trap nests can reveal varied life stories in insects (e.g., Staab et al 2014) and are helpful in studies of bioindicators (e.g., Tylianakis et al 2004;Tscharntke et al 1998). Unlike eusocial species, solitary bees spend much of their lifetime constructing and provisioning their nests.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nest architecture, life cycle, and natural enemies of the neotropical leafcutting bee Megachile (Moureapis) maculata (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in a montane forest

Sabino

Antonini

2017

Apidologie

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-Studies on the nesting biology of cavity nesting hymenoptera (bees and wasps) have stimulated many questions related to the behavior, life cycle, trophic niche, and sex ratio to better understanding of the life history of insects. Leafcutting bees are common insects, and many are important and efficient pollinators of crops and other plants. We studied the nesting biology of Megachile (Moureapis ) maculata in a montane semi-deciduous forest in Brazil using trap nests in order to improve the knowledge of aspects of the natural history of this important pollinator group. During 27 months, 87 nests were collected with an average of seven brood cells per nest. Most of the nests were in cavities of 0.9 cm in diameter (77%), and the number of brood cells ranged from 1 to 11. Absence of seasonality in nesting behavior suggests a multivoltine species. The total mortality rate was 26%, with the cuckoo bee Coelyoxis (Acrocoelioxys ) sp. being the main natural enemy attacking 15% of brood cells. The sex ratio is clearly male-biased (1:0.42). Females and their brood cells were larger than males and their brood cells, which may suggest an imbalance in the energetic cost of each sex. The success of this bee species in colonizing trap nests makes it an interesting potential opportunity to use this species for pollination of cultivated Asteraceae plant species, like sunflower.Atlantic forest / sex ratio / solitary bees / trap nests INTRODUCTIONThe genus Megachile Latreille, 1802 (Megachilidae) is large, with 1524 species described, of which 147 have been recorded from Brazil (Ascher and Pickering 2015). Species of megachilid bees use several nesting substrates. Some species dig nests in the soil, but most are specialists in using pre-existing cavities in the ground, among rocks or in pithy stems and galls (Eickwort et al. 1981). Pre-existing cavities are also found in dead wood, such as old galleries of wood-dwelling beetles, which are important nest spaces in forest ecosystems (Zuo et al. 2016).Materials used for nesting construction are quite diverse, including sand, mud, resins, plant trichomes, petals, and leaf pieces. The behavior of nesting in cavities probably evolved repeatedly in ancestral species that nested in the soil (Eickwort et al. 1981) and may be more common than once supposed. Females, particularly of the genus Megachile , use their mandibles to cut pieces of leaves used to build their brood cells. This remarkable behavior, of using pieces of leaves to build the brood cells, is unique among bees.

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A Unique Nest-Protection Strategy in a New Species of Spider Wasp

Cited by 1,175 publications

References 32 publications

Diversity and specificity of host‐natural enemy interactions in an urban‐rural interface

Diversity and specificity of host‐natural enemy interactions in an urban‐rural interface

Larvae and Nests of Six Aculeate Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) Nesting in Reed Galls Induced by Lipara spp. (Diptera: Chloropidae) with a Review of Species Recorded

Nest architecture, life cycle, and natural enemies of the neotropical leafcutting bee Megachile (Moureapis) maculata (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in a montane forest

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