Nest Structure, Seasonality and Female Behavior of Epicharis (Anepicharis) dejeanii Lepeletier (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Centridini) in a Restinga Ecosystem, in Southern Brazil

• Published in: Sociobiology (Chico, CA) Vol. 68; no. 1; p. e5792
• Main Authors: Uemura, Natalia, Gobatto, André Luiz, Pina, Welber da Costa, Ono, Rafael Hideki, Sofia, Silvia Helena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana 01-03-2021
• Subjects: Atlantic Forest; bee behavior; nest aggregation; nesting biology; solitary bees
• ISSN: 0361-6525; 2447-8067
• DOI: 10.13102/sociobiology.v68i1.5792

We investigated the nesting behavior of females of Epicharis dejeanii and the architecture of their nests, in a large aggregation in a Restinga area, on Ilha do Superagui, southern Brazil. Surveys were carried out intermittently through the warm-wet seasons from different years between 2013 and 2017. The nest aggregation occupied an area of approximately 2,000 m2 and was situated on a sand bank and on flat sandy soil. Each nest consisted of a long unbranched tunnel, averaging 1.45 ± 0.35 m (N = 8), connected to a single brood cell with a mean length of 3.13 ± 0.2 cm (N = 13) and mean diameter of 1.2 ± 0.1 cm (N = 11). On average, females carried out 4.0 ± 2.4 foraging trips per day (N = 109) to collect floral resources for provisioning brood cells. Similar times were spent by females in their foraging trips for: only pollen (15.8 ± 14.3 min, N = 72), oil (22.5 ± 15.7 min, N = 45), or both resources (17.0 ± 15.1, N = 63).  Our findings reveal that some variation in both nesting architecture and female behavior of E. dejeanii during nesting activities can occur in different locations from the same region.