Morphometric comparisons and novel observations of diurnal and low-light-foraging bees
Low-light adapted bees are substantially understudied components of the bee fauna, particularly in Australia. Whilst several species in Australia are thought to be adapted to low-light conditions, explicit records of these taxa actually foraging at twilight or night are absent from the scientific li...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Pensoft Publishers
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Journal of Hymenoptera Research |
| Online Access: | https://jhr.pensoft.net/article/57308/download/pdf/ |
| _version_ | 1818211252153876480 |
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| author | James B. Dorey Erinn P. Fagan-Jeffries Mark I. Stevens Michael P. Schwarz |
| author_facet | James B. Dorey Erinn P. Fagan-Jeffries Mark I. Stevens Michael P. Schwarz |
| author_sort | James B. Dorey |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Low-light adapted bees are substantially understudied components of the bee fauna, particularly in Australia. Whilst several species in Australia are thought to be adapted to low-light conditions, explicit records of these taxa actually foraging at twilight or night are absent from the scientific literature. We present the first observations of Australian bees foraging in low-light conditions as well as the first evidence of low-light foraging behaviour in the colletid bee subfamily, Hylaeinae. Using morphometrics of Australian and more broadly-distributed diurnal, facultative low-light and obligate low-light adapted bees, we explore the use of morphological traits to objectively assess possible low-light behaviour and corroborate low-light collection events. Our results show that it is possible to morphologically distinguish between diurnal and low-light adapted bees, and that there is a spectrum of characters that are associated with low light conditions. We use GIS to show that low-light adapted species occur mostly in the tropics, but that some species have subtropical, arid and even temperate distributions. As low-light foraging behaviour in bees is infrequently reported, it appears that low-light foraging behaviour is more common than currently appreciated, highlighting the need for extended bee-sampling periods and more consistent collection data to increase the understanding of this little-understood aspect of bee behaviour. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T05:29:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5d450b958bbc4f5fa45daf998a848c4a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1314-2607 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T05:29:32Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | Pensoft Publishers |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Hymenoptera Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-5d450b958bbc4f5fa45daf998a848c4a2022-12-22T00:36:21ZengPensoft PublishersJournal of Hymenoptera Research1314-26072020-10-017911714410.3897/jhr.79.5730857308Morphometric comparisons and novel observations of diurnal and low-light-foraging beesJames B. Dorey0Erinn P. Fagan-Jeffries1Mark I. Stevens2Michael P. Schwarz3Flinders UniversityUniversity of AdelaideUniversity of South AustraliaFlinders UniversityLow-light adapted bees are substantially understudied components of the bee fauna, particularly in Australia. Whilst several species in Australia are thought to be adapted to low-light conditions, explicit records of these taxa actually foraging at twilight or night are absent from the scientific literature. We present the first observations of Australian bees foraging in low-light conditions as well as the first evidence of low-light foraging behaviour in the colletid bee subfamily, Hylaeinae. Using morphometrics of Australian and more broadly-distributed diurnal, facultative low-light and obligate low-light adapted bees, we explore the use of morphological traits to objectively assess possible low-light behaviour and corroborate low-light collection events. Our results show that it is possible to morphologically distinguish between diurnal and low-light adapted bees, and that there is a spectrum of characters that are associated with low light conditions. We use GIS to show that low-light adapted species occur mostly in the tropics, but that some species have subtropical, arid and even temperate distributions. As low-light foraging behaviour in bees is infrequently reported, it appears that low-light foraging behaviour is more common than currently appreciated, highlighting the need for extended bee-sampling periods and more consistent collection data to increase the understanding of this little-understood aspect of bee behaviour.https://jhr.pensoft.net/article/57308/download/pdf/ |
| spellingShingle | James B. Dorey Erinn P. Fagan-Jeffries Mark I. Stevens Michael P. Schwarz Morphometric comparisons and novel observations of diurnal and low-light-foraging bees Journal of Hymenoptera Research |
| title | Morphometric comparisons and novel observations of diurnal and low-light-foraging bees |
| title_full | Morphometric comparisons and novel observations of diurnal and low-light-foraging bees |
| title_fullStr | Morphometric comparisons and novel observations of diurnal and low-light-foraging bees |
| title_full_unstemmed | Morphometric comparisons and novel observations of diurnal and low-light-foraging bees |
| title_short | Morphometric comparisons and novel observations of diurnal and low-light-foraging bees |
| title_sort | morphometric comparisons and novel observations of diurnal and low light foraging bees |
| url | https://jhr.pensoft.net/article/57308/download/pdf/ |
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