Nesting Activity and Behavior ofOsmia cornifrons(Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) Elucidated Using Videography

摘要

Osmia cornifronsRadoszkowski (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) is utilized as an alternate pollinator toApis melliferaL. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in early-season fruit crops. This study was conducted to investigate nesting activities and associated behaviors ofO. cornifrons.Osmia cornifronsnesting activity was recorded by using a digital video recorder with infrared cameras. Nesting behavior of ten femaleO. cornifronswas observed, and the number of nesting trips per hour was recorded. Trends in daily activity were determined with regression analysis, and chi square analysis was used to determine ifO. cornifronsspent a greater amount of time performing certain activities. The percentage of time required to gather nesting resources and complete nest construction activities was recorded from the video footage. Results of this study showed that pollen gathering was the most time-consuming gathering activity, requiring221.6±28.69 min per cell and cell provisioning was the most time-consuming intranest activity, requiring 28.9 min ± 3.97 min. We also found thatO. cornifronsactivity was correlated with time of day, temperature, and precipitation. Various nesting behaviors, including cell provisioning and partitioning, oviposition, grooming, resting and sleeping, nest-searching, and repairing behaviors, are described in this paper.