[Pollinator] May Eastern Bee Collection Targets

[Droege, Sam]

All

Below are May's Eastern Native Bee collection targets.  Thanks for the reminder Jarrod Fowler!  Be sure to check out his web site at:

https://jarrodfowler.com/specialist_bees.html

First a note about last Month's targets.  Last month's targets are still this month's targets up north, particularly this rather slow cold spring.  Second, these sorts of patterns of use/coexistence exist for the Rockies, Plains, and West Coasts as well as world wide and it would be nice to see others suggest collecting targets for some of those areas.  Don't worry if the list is far from incomplete.  We are all in that boat.

Addenda to the lists.  Jason Gibbs points out that there is good evidence that A. erythronii is not likely a specialist on trout lily, rather it is a spring flower specialist but of a more general sort.    Will send the paper he references separately.  Thanks Jason.

Also, there is more and more information indicating that Habropoda laboriosa is not a specialist on blueberries, it just likes them a lot.  Sorry Jim Cane, Habropoda and blueberry champion, and thanks to several people (most recently you, Bashira, Jack Neff) for documenting this.

Ok, targets for May, recall that I am from the Mid-Atlantic so dial in your phenologies appropriately.

Andrena cornelli - Rhododendron .... in particular the native azaleas like Pinxter.  In the mountains, it would be of interest to investigate the more lush Great Rhododendron types (e.g., Rhododendron maximum) which strike me as perhaps having a different bee flora.

Shrubby dogwoods (Swida group) - Seems to almost always have hordes of Andrena on it.  The morphologically distinct group of Andrena that specialize on this plant are things like A. fragilis, A. integra, A persimulata, A. platyparia.  Is that distinct morphology important?  Needs some work people.

Andrena kalmiae - Seems to be on several Ericaceous plants, which often co-occur, striking me as something to look at more closely.  Also Mountain Laurel is a big bloomer, but the only thing I see on it most of the time are bumble bees and not even them sometimes.  So, what's the strategy for this plant here in its deep  shade habitats?

Andrena polemonii - Specialist on Polemonium (Jacob's Ladder and Greek Valerian).   An underinspected plant/bee combo.  Matt Sarver found them in DE in a large plantings of Greek Valerian while there were NO records of them in the surrounding states.   People aren't looking is my conclusion.

Andrena rudbeckiae - On Black-eyed Susans.   Interestingly it seems to not show up (where we are) so much in the home gardens as in the plantings and natural occurrences in large fields.  Its is really more of a prairie bee, and not often collected in the formerly more open far East of the U.S.

Andrena uvulariae - I think I mentioned it last month, but worth mentioning again, as it is one of those species that appears to be more undercollected than absent... as it's lack of specimens in databases would indicate.  Some recent work on bellworts show that it is strongly associated with  the genus and often tucks into the dangling bell of the bellwort making it unobvious to when collecting.

Perdita foveata - An obscure Florida species that appears to be a Coreopsis specialist, but more work is needed to see if it isn't just a composite specialist like other Perdita.  Also, it needs to be investigated (heads up MS and AL people) that this species doesn't actually occur throughout the Gulf ...which would connect FL to Midwestern apparent populations.

Perdita gerhardi - Perdita are so understudied in the East.  Here is what appears to be a Monarda specialist, but so very few records despite lots of Monarda plantings an in existence.  I have a suspicion that it might be just a specialist on M. punctata, which seems to be have the interesting combo of loving sand and having an interesting perhaps specialized floral architecture and having other specialist bees such as Protandrena abdominalis favoring it.  I suggest a spotted beebalm graduate student is needed here.  And more planting of M. punctata.

Lyonia - Perdita novaeangliae, Colletes productus, Melitta melittoides.  Another underappreciated shrub.  More planting of this species also warranted, and certainly more collecting off of populations to better define the 3 species associated with it  as their conservation/occurrence status is murky.

Perdita nubila - Reported as an Asteraceae specialist though more information is definitely needed, again we have a Florida, southern Midwest  distribution with nothing in between, might be that there is nothing between the Florida and Midwestern prairies, but I would look in the coastal pockets in MS, LA, and AL to be sure.

Perdita obscurata - Reported as a Vaccinium specialist, but so few records as to make this something to also investigate.

Protandrena abdominalis - Almost certainly a Monarda punctata specialist.  Very interesting disjunct population centers between the East coast (no recent records I believe) and the Midwest (lots of recent records).  Is this a faint echo of when the East was more open, more biodiverse, in plants?

Pseudopanurgus albitarsis - Start checking now for this species on early Rudbeckia and then Helianthus.   Another species with lots of Midwestern populations, and some few Eastern ones, look in prairie-like circumstances.  Seems strongly associated with what once was the more extensive Southeastern Grassland Biome... See https://www.segrasslands.org/ for more cool information on a renewed interested in this conservation issue.

Pseudopanurgus illinoiensis - Mysterious (most of Pseudopanurgus are mysterious) not often seen species.  Asteraceae specialist apparently, look on Erigeron now and follow up with similar field composites.

Pseudopanurgus virginicus - Fun looking species.   Listed as being on Ceanothus and Houstonia....needs more investigation.

Oenothera things - Melissodes fimbriatus, Svastra compta, Lasioglossum oenotherae, Megachile oenotherae are the wondrously specialized  target bees which just may not be as uncommon as it would seem from collections.   Most of Oenothera species would have to be hunted either early in the morning or just around dusk when these plants bloom.  Even dirtball O. biennis can have at least some of these species.  Its the evening inspection that is needed.  Very little current information available on the conservation status of this group.

Colletes aestivalis - Heuchera specialist.  Maybe some of the taxonomically nearby plant genera should be looked at too?  In any case there are indications that the myriads of hybrid Heuchera and European Heuchera people plant in mulched rows are NOT of interest to this species, but in both plantings of the native species and in the little inspected mountain homes of native Heuchera, this species still occurs.   If you don't look, you won't find it.

Physalis things - Not sure if this was on last month's list, but Physalis has a long bloom season, so am adding it to this month's list  (I could look at last month's list, but choose not to).  Perdita halictoides, Colletes latitarsis, C. willistoni, and Lasioglossum pectinatum are the target bees.   Particularly L. pectinatum.  Super not often found species despite the weedy prevalence of Physalis.    Not clear if any of the asian/commerical species of this plant are attractive to these species, am guessing not.

Ashmeadiella bucconis - Another apparent relic of the formerly glorious Southeastern grasslands, with larger populations to the West.   There are a few records of this species on what appears to be a sunflower (and perhaps other compites) specialist.  Time to start looking would be now in restoration locations in the East.

sam

To make a prairie it takes a clover
and one bee,--
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
If bees are few.
  - Emily Dickinson




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