Flower associations and nesting of the pollen wasp Quartinia major Kohl, 1898 (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Masarinae) in Morocco

Abstract

Females of Quartinia major Kohl were observed to visit flowers of Pulicaria mauritanica Batt., Cladanthus arabicus (L.) Cass. and Asteriscus graveolens (Forssk.) Less., (all Asteroideae Asteraceae) at two localities in southern Morocco. Pollen in the provisions of two brood cells was more than 99% Aster-type (Asteroideae), indicating broad oligolecty. During pollen uptake from P. mauritanica, the females of Q. major employed a hitherto undescribed harvesting technique: They used their mouthparts to squeeze pollen from the corolla tubes of early male phase disc florets. Pollen was ingested immediately after it had been extracted. The nest was a multicellular subterranean burrow excavated in friable soil and surmounted by a turret. The nest walls were stabilized with self-generated silk.

The origin and evolution of pollen transport in bees (Hymenoptera: Anthophila)

“…Multiple species of pollen wasp have been documented to gather pollen through a combination of nibbling with the mandibles and drawing the forelegs through the mouthparts. This is seen in species such as Celonites fischeri (Mauss and Müller 2014), Ceramius fonscolombei (Mauss et al 2003), Quartinia canariensis (Mauss and Müller 2016), and Quartinia major (Mauss et al 2018). The use of forelegs in pollen gathering may be related to the accessibility of the pollen; C. hispanicus is reported to nibble pollen when anthers are accessible, and uses the forelegs when they are not (Mauss and Müller 2000, Krenn et al 2002).…”

Foraging Behavior of Two Pollen Wasp Species of the Genus Celonites Latreille, 1802 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Masarinae), from the Altai Mountains

“…Polylecty is rare in Celonites and has only been proved for two Afrotropical species, which are C. capensis Brauns, 1905, and C. promontorii Brauns, 1905 [ 3 , 11 ]. Palaearctic species of the genus Celonites for which flower associations are known have so far only been found to be either broadly or narrowly oligolectic, sensu Müller and Kuhlmann [ 24 ], collecting pollen exclusively from flowers of Lamiaceae [ 18 , 26 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ] or Boraginaceae [ 5 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 37 ]. Another noteworthy behavior of C. kozlovi is the consumption of pollen from flowers that have not yet fully opened.…”

“…The derived pollen-collecting apparatus of C. sibiricus resembles the morphological structures for pollen uptake from nototribic flowers of Lamiaceae that are present in the members of the C. abbreviatus -complex [ 18 , 26 , 33 , 34 ], which take up pollen from these flowers in a similar way as C. sibiricus does [ 26 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. However, there are distinct differences.…”

“…As Asteraceae are common and yield high pollen rewards, selection should favor the evolution of these adaptations [ 45 ]. Indeed, Asteraceae host a large number of specialized bee taxa [ 24 , 47 ], but there are also several groups of masarine wasps belonging to the genera Ceramius , Jugurtia , and Quartinia, which are restricted to Asteraceae or show a marked preference for flowers of this family [ 2 , 3 , 48 ]. This suggests the existence of the same physiological constraints in pollen wasps.…”

New records of Quartinia mongolica (Morawitz, 1889), with a comment on a closely related species Q. funebris Kostylev, 1935 (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Masarinae)

“…The walls of the burrow are stabilized by a silky excretion that is applied on their inner surfaces during nest construction. The use of self-produced silk is the key adaptation of Quartinia to inhabitation of sand biotopes (Gess & Gess, 1992, 2010Mauss & Müller, 2016;Mauss et al, 2018;Zimmermann et al, 2020).…”