NESTING BIOLOGY OF MEGACHILEIGNITA SMITH, 1853 (HYMENOPTERA: MEGACHILIDAE) IN ARTIFICIAL NESTING BLOCKS IN URBANISED SOUTHWESTERN AUSTRALIA

摘要

Bees require floral resources in the form of pollen and nectar tor tood but, in addition, many cavity-nesting species require other plant resources for nesting materials, which might come from plants on which they do not forage for food. This paper records the habitual use of deflowers and indumentum from tomentose floral bracts of Banksia as nesting material by the Australian megachilid bee Megachile jgm'ta-Smith, which appears to be characteristic of this species. Additional aspects of its nestingbiology are discussed, including phenology, number of brood cells per nest, mortality rate, sex ratio, body size and infestation of nests by parasitoid wasps.