[Pollinator] Fwd: Fwd: Xylocopa glob pics

[Peter Bernhardt]

Dear Colleagues:

Well, it looks like the answer to the hard, yellow globs on that female
carpenter bee have been solved.  The answer comes from Australia and I
would like to thank my friend, Dr Michael Batley at the Australian Museum
(Sydney).  As I wrote earlier today, the globs were composed of highly
compacted pollen representing other species.  The glob did not contain the
milkweed pollen as bees do not eat these hard, pollinia units.

Dr Batley takes this observation one step further and provides us with a
photo you will all cherish.  The pollen I stained the globes had already
gone through one or more digestive tracts!  My specimen (now measured and
pinned) came in contact with the dung of newly emerged bees that were still
being fed by their mother.

Peter
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael <michael.batley at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 2, 2016 at 4:31 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Xylocopa glob pics
To: camilogr at slu.edu
Cc: Peter Bernhardt <bernhap2 at slu.edu>


Young Xylocopa apparently excrete quite a lot of pollen at the entrance to
the nest. I have attached one of a series of photos of this behaviour taken
by Erica Siegel. The person to contact for more information is Katja
Hogendoorn at the University of Adelaide, who told Erica
"The young, newly eclosed males and females remain in the nest for a long
period of time before venturing out. During that time, they are fed by the
mother and they poo out of the nest entrance."

Presumably your adults have accidentally picked up some of these excretions.

Michael
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