Andrena astragali

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Andrena astragali
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Andrenidae
Genus: Andrena
Species:
A. astragali
Binomial name
Andrena astragali
Viereck & Cockerell, 1914
Synonyms
  • Andrena zygadeni Cockerell, 1932

Andrena astragali, the death camas miner bee or death camas bee, is a species of miner bee in the family Andrenidae. It is found in North America. It specializes in feeding on the highly poisonous Toxicoscordion venenosum, the meadow deathcamas, and close relatives. It is quite likely the only bee that can tolerate the deathcamas toxin, zygacine.

Death camas bee, Andrena astragali, dorsal view

Taxonomy and phylogeny[edit]

A. astragali is a bee, a species in the order Hymenoptera, which includes wasps, bees, and ants. It is in the family Andrenidae, and the subfamily Andreninae.[1][2] Its genus, Andrena, is one of the largest genus of bees and its members are solitary ground dwelling mining bees.[3] The species was first described by two entomologists with the University of Colorado Boulder,[4] Henry Lorenz Viereck and Theodore D. A. Cockerell, who published the first description of the species in 1914.[5] It was inadvertently named a second time as Andrena zygadeni by Cockerell from specimens collected in California feeding on flowers of the plant then named Zigadenus fremontii, now Toxicoscordion fremontii.[6]

Names[edit]

The species name, A. astragali, is referring to the genus Astragalus, the locoweeds.[7] The first specimen collected by Viereck and Cockerell, was found on one of those flowers in Nebraska. They named the species assuming that was primarily or exclusively a pollinator of that genus, when in fact they mostly visit Toxicoscordion flowers and the bee collected was an outlier.[6] The species has a number of common names related to its specialized feeding behaviors. In English it is called the "death camas bee" and "death camas miner bee" because it is a specialist pollinator of flowers in the deathcamas genus (Toxicoscordion).[8][9][4] Much less commonly, it is occasionally called the "death camas andrena".[10]

Description[edit]

The female is about 10–13 millimeters in length with a black body and reddish to creamy white hairs.[11][12][13] The male's body length is slightly shorter, ranging from 8–12 millimeters.[11]

The facial quadrangle is broader than it is long. The wings are glassy with a reddish tint, but without a dark margin and dusky at the apex.[12] A. astragali is different than other American Andrena in the western United States by being larger and having two toothlike projections on the labrum, the flap in front of the mouth parts. It is most visually similar to Andrena fulvida, a European species.[14]

Foraging[edit]

Death camas bee, Andrena astragali, foraging on a Toxicoscordion flower, British Columbia

The death camas bee forages largely or entirely at the flowers they were named for. Pollen loads being carried by females may contain as much as 80% Toxicoscordion pollen, and they may only visit other flowers for nectar before seeking pollen.[6] In provisioning nests for their larvae females gather pollen and nectar that will contain at least 30 μg of zygacine.[15] Species of flower known to be frequented by the bees include Toxicoscordion nuttallii,[16] Toxicoscordion venenosum, and Toxicoscordion paniculatum.[15] Female death camas bees are more frequently visitors to the flowers than are the males.[17]

Experiments with the orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria) conclusively showed that nectar and pollen from Toxicoscordion paniculatum and Toxicoscordion venenosum are poisonous to solitary bees as well as to honeybees.[15] In general Toxicoscordion species are only rarely visited by other bee species.[17] Scientists studying the interactions hypothesize that the evolution of tolerance for the poisons by the death camas bee is an adaptation to deter predators and/or parasites. However, further research is needed to determine if the exclusivity of rewards for the one species of bee may be a factor.[15] Though it is the only bee that feeds upon death camas flowers, a fly species, Earomyia melnickae, was described in 2022 which so far has only been observed to feed at meadow death camas flowers as an adult.[18]

A study of Toxicoscordion paniculatum flowers found that they are also quite dependent on pollination by death camas bees. Flower that self pollinated failed to form a seed capsule at more than triple the rate of flowers that had been either artificially cross pollinated or been visited by bees.[17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Andrena astragali". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Andrena astragali". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  3. ^ Dubitzky, Andreas; Plant, John; Schönitzer, Klaus (2010). "Phylogeny of the bee genus Andrena Fabricius based on morphology (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae)" (PDF). Mitteilungen der Münchner Entomologischen Gesellschaft. 100: 137–202.
  4. ^ a b Mitton, Jeff (1 April 2022). "A rare relationship between death camas and death camas miner bees". Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  5. ^ Krombein, Karl V. (1979). Catalog of Hymenoptera in America North of Mexico. Vol. 2: Apocrita. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 1795. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Tepedino, Vincent J. (2003). "What's in a Name? The Confusing Case of the Death Camas Bee, Andrena astragali Viereck and Cockerell (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae)". Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 76 (2): 194–197. ISSN 0022-8567. JSTOR 25086105. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  7. ^ Wilson, Joseph S.; Messinger Carril, Olivia J (24 November 2015). The bees in your backyard : a guide to North America's bees. Princeton University Press. p. 78. ISBN 9780691160771.
  8. ^ Sardiñas, Hillary (2016). "Getting to Know Our Native Bees". Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin. 78 (2). Seattle, Washington: Washington Park Arboretum Foundation: 12–13. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  9. ^ "Standardized Common Names for Wild Species in Canada". National General Status Working Group. 2020.
  10. ^ "Toxicoscordion venenosum-Meadow deathcamas". Klamath Siskiyou Native Seeds. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  11. ^ a b "Andrena astragali". Discover Life. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  12. ^ a b Cockerell, T.D.A. (1932). "Bees of the genus Andrena from California". The Pan-Pacific Entomologist. 8 (4): 174–176. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  13. ^ Viereck, Henry L.; Cockerell, T.D.A. (1914). "New North American bees of the genus Andrena". Proceedings U.S. National Museum. 48 (2064): 46–47. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.48-2064.1. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  14. ^ Laberge, Wallace E.; Ribble, David W. (1975). "A Revision of the Bees of the Genus Andrena of the Western Hemisphere. Part VII. Subgenus Euandrena". Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 101 (3): 371–446. ISSN 0002-8320. JSTOR 25078177. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  15. ^ a b c d Cane, James H; Gardner, Dale R; Weber, Melissa (2 December 2020). "Neurotoxic alkaloid in pollen and nectar excludes generalist bees from foraging at death-camas, Toxicoscordion paniculatum (Melanthiaceae)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 131 (4): 927–935. doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blaa159.
  16. ^ Roulston, T. H.; Cane, J. H. (2000). "Pollen nutritional content and digestibility for animals". Plant Systematics and Evolution. 222 (1–4): 203. Bibcode:2000PSyEv.222..187R. doi:10.1007/BF00984102.
  17. ^ a b c Cane, James H. (October 2018). "Co-dependency between a specialist Andrena bee and its death camas host, Toxicoscordion paniculatum". Arthropod-Plant Interactions. 12 (5): 657–662. Bibcode:2018APInt..12..657C. doi:10.1007/s11829-018-9626-9.
  18. ^ MacGowan, Iain; Astle, Tom (20 December 2022). "A new species of Earomyia Zetterstedt, 1842 (Diptera; Lonchaeidae) from Montana, U.S.A., associated with the toxic plant Toxicoscordion venenosum (S. Watson) Rydb. (Melanthiaceae)". The Pan-Pacific Entomologist. 98 (4): 313–320. doi:10.3956/2022-98.4.313.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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