Pollen preferences of Hoplosmia bidentata and Lithurgus cornutus (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae)

Abstract

In this study pollen from the scopae of two species of solitary bees was identified from five sites in Turkey in the vicinity of the Central Anatolian cities Ankara, Eskişehir and Çankiri. The samples of Lithurgus cornutus (Fabricius) and Hoplosmia bidentata (Morawitz) (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) were collected between June and August. Most of the 162 specimens contained more than one type of pollen. L. cornutus (Fabricius) was provisioned with pollen from eight families, H. bidentata (Morawitz) from eleven families. New types of pollen for both species were also identified. © Entomologica Fennica. 2007.