Food niche ofExomalopsis(Exomalopsis)fulvofasciataSmith (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Brazilian savannah: the importance of oil-producing plant species as pollen sources

Abstract

Exomalopsis are ground-nesting species, and their food-niche breadth is little known due the difficulty in locating the nests and finding efficient bait plants to attract these bees. Some species of Exomalopsis were recorded as tomato, hot pepper and eggplant pollinators. Information about the food niche could be useful to increase Exomalopsis populations, providing consistent and comparable data for the enrichment of natural and crop areas with adequate plant sources. This study aimed to determine the food niche and the role of pollen size in the diet of E. fulvofasciata. We analysed pollen loads of 28 individuals of E. fulvofasciata collected from bait plants, in two natural areas of the Brazilian savannah. Only five pollen types belonging to the families Malpighiaceae, Solanaceae, Leguminosae, Myrtaceae and Lythraceae were important for this species. This result indicates that E. fulvofasciata is probably a polylectic species. However, we noticed that the Byrsonima used as bait plants contribute significantly for its larval provision, indicating that small pollen grains were more frequently collected.

Estrutura de comunidades de abelhas e vespas que nidificam em cavidades preexistentes em áreas de Cerrado e Mata Estacional Semidecidual com especial referência ao nicho trófico das espécies de abelhas

“…Devido a esses marcadores naturais polínicos que permitiram estudos mais aprofundados do nicho trófico de abelhas solitárias, e a preocupação com a queda das abundâncias dos polinizadores eussociais, trabalhos com espécies nativas e solitárias vêm crescendo e trazendo importantes informações nessa temática (Aguiar et al, 2005;Dórea et al, 2009;Pigozzo & Viana, 2010;Aguiar et al, 2013;Carvalho et al, 2014;Landry et al, 2014;Torretta et al, 2014;Aidar et al, 2015;Diniz & Buschini, 2015;Ferreira & Absy, 2015;Giannini et al, 2015;Rabelo et al, 2016;Rocha-Filho et al, 2018).…”