Macrotera portalis
| Macrotera portalis | |
|---|---|
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| Face of a large-headed, flightless male of Macrotera portalis. Specimen is deposited in the Snow Entomological Museum at the University of Kansas (accession #SMO290071). Yellow paint on top of head was used to mark the specimen during nesting studies. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Euarthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Andrenidae |
| Genus: | Macrotera |
| Species: | M. portalis |
| Binomial name | |
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Macrotera portalis (Timberlake, 1954) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Perdita portalis Timberlake, 1954 |
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Perdita portalis Timberlake, 1954
Macrotera portalis is a species of communal, ground nesting, partially bivoltine bees found in arid grasslands and desert regions. An oligolectic bee, M. portalis gathers pollen only from plants in the genus Sphaeralcea and contains unique emergence characteristics. It is predicted that M. portalis has a patient technique of emergence to survive through the harsh conditions of the desert, resorting to bet hedging and timing emergence following the rainy season.
Macrotera portalis is of the order Hymenoptera, family Andrenidae, and genus Macrotera. The family Andrenidae is specific to sand bees, andrenid bees, and mining bees. This species was formerly in Perdita, which contained 756 species and now contains around 600 species of bees which are located primarily in northern Mexico and the arid southwestern United States. Around 30 species removed from Perdita were placed in the genus Macrotera.
Macrotera portalis is a communal, ground nesting bee. As part of the family Andrenidae, M. portalis is a ground nesting bee. It has velvety patches between the eyes and the antennae base called facial fovea.
Macrotera portalis is biologically closely related to Macrotera texana. Both species are communal, females have provision over one cell each day, and intranest mating is common. Macrotera portalis, however, has more females in each nest. M. texana are not dimorphic, and their nests are usually not reused for too many generations.
Macrotera portalis are communal bees that are ground nesting, with many females often sharing the same nest while provisioning their own individual nest cells. The species is found in arid grassland and desert regions in northern Mexico, Arizona, and New Mexico.Macrotera portalis nests contain tunnels that consist of pollen and nectar in storage for development of larva. The species collect pollen only from plants in the genus Sphaeralcea. The nests are usually recycled for several generations and last for a long period of time. One study by Cornell professor Bryan Danforth demonstrated that nests were shallow, at most 15 cm deep, with some complex nests that contained more than 200 cells and an area with a 20 cm diameter. The main tunnels was absent of loose soil and stretched straight down with waterproof lining coated the cells. The nests were open during nesting period and did not have tumuli. Completed cells can range to a great number, with over 200 in some nests. Generally, there are about 2 to 29 adult females in one nest. Nests generally stay in the same location each year since nests are isolated, large and some prepupae are in diapause for more than a year. Further, since nests are used frequently, bees within a nests may be very closely related to each other.
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Wikipedia