[Pollinator] Beetle + holes in the flower

[Peter Bernhardt]

Here are two more photos with the permission of Dr. Edens-Meier.  Not all
the visitors to C. parviflorum can or will enter the labellum.  This
Xylocopa virginiana seemed focused on the the orchid's shield-like
staminodium (it does not offer pollen or nectar).  However, please note the
beetle on the same flower.  Can we say it is another buprestid?

Now for a whodunit?  Retha noticed two wholes on the underside of this
labellum at one of our two Missouri sites.  In Oregon I found that, every
now and then, an Osmia would get stuck in the labellum of C. montanum and
chewed her way out but left a messy slash.  These holes look very precise
and I wonder if we should suspect Osmia again?  We have caught a few of the
smaller Osmia species exiting these flowers but in the "legitimate way,"
through the rear exits.  It's my impression that Osmia heads and/or
abdomens are just a little too wide to squeeze through the rear exits of
the flower with ease.  This stresses them and they start doing what any
respectable leaf-cutter bee would do.

Peter
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