o. · probably would have been found in all nests by folio,wing main bur-rows farther into the soil. Cells of Hylaeus were co,nstructed in cells of the Lasioglossum still having the

OCCUPANCY BY HYLAEU8 OF SUBTERRANEANHALICTID NESTS (HYMENOPTERA: APOIDEA) I

BY EDWARD M. BARROWSDepartment of Entomology, University of Kansas

Lawrence, Kansas 66045

Hylaeus (Colletidae) is well known to. nest in various preformedcavities. It is most commonly reported in hollow stems (St.oekhert,933 Malyshev, 936; Michener, 965 Stephen et al., 969) butalso may occupy cynipid wasp galls (Stoekhert, 933; Laroca, 97t)and dead wood (Perkins, 899; Michener, 965). However, nestsites are not limited to plant materials. Smith (855) reported cellsin hollow pieces of "flint stone"; Ferton (932), in earthworm bur-rows; and Perkins (899), in ground. The present paper .concernsnests o H. bisinuatus in burro,ws of a halictine bee in an earthenbank; this is the first record o. Hylaeus occupancy o. nests o anotherhymenopteran.H. bisinuat,us has also been found in North America nesting in

s.odt-straw traps and nail holes (R. R. Shelling, pets. comm.) and inEurope in hollow briar (Rubus) stems (Stoekhert, 933). Thusthis species evidently has behavior which is flexible enough to, enableit to nest in a variety of preformed holes in a wide geographical area.

In early July to early August, 974, six nests o H. bisinuatuswere o.und among those of Lasioglossum (Dialictus) zephyrum(Halictidae: Halictinae) in a nesting .aggregation in vertical bankso the Kansas River, near Eudora, Douglas Co.unty, Kansas. _Al-though the Lasioglossum nest aggregation is enormo.us, extending forabout km up and down the river, all the Hylaeus nests w,ere foundin about O square meters where the, bank faces northwest.The burrows occupied by H. bisinuatus were obviously former

nests of L. zephyrum. In two, nests vacant cells of L. zephyrum werenear those used by H. bisinuatus; abandoned cells, o,f L. zephyrumprobably would have been found in all nests by folio,wing main bur-rows farther into the soil. Cells of Hylaeus were co,nstructed incells of the Lasioglossum still having the shape and wax-like lining

1Contribution No. 1580 from the Department of Entomology, Universityof Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.

2H. bisinuatus (F6rster, 1871), described fro.m Europe, is a senior synonymof H. steensi (Crawford, 1913), described from North America, where itis probably adventive (R. R. Shelling, pers. comm.).Manuscript received by the editor, .4pril 5, 1975

74

1975] Barrows Hylaeus 75

characteristic of the halictine. The longitudinal axes of the burrowsand cells o.f the nests were horizontal as is typical for nests o L.zephyrum in vertical banks (Batra, 966). Burrows and nest en-trances were similar in size to those of L. zephyrum. Thus there isno evidence tha.t the Hylaeus did any nest excavation; it appears tohave merely used available nests for its own purposes. Furthermorethere is no evidence that the Hylaeus entered occupied Lasioglossumnests, although this possibility exists.

All six Hylaeus nests were discovered ater their entrances hadbeen closed, each with a sheet o a cellophane-like material flush withthe surface of the soil bank. The sheets had striations radiating romtheir centers and small openings along their margins. A emale ofH. bisinuatus was discovered licking across a nest entrance alreadyclosed by a "cellophane" sheet. Evidently she was (inishing the clos-ure. She revolved around the entrance 3 times in 8 minutes whileshe licked 22.5 times per minute (n 2 rain) across the sheet; dur-ing this time she to.ok occasional rests, o several seconds each. Duringeach lick the tip o her proboscis moved from her midventral areato a point in front o her head.

For identification she was captured before she inished the closureand two days later (on 5 July) her nest was examined (Fig. ). Allthree of the cells in her nest were provisioned with a sot yellowmaterial, mos likely a mixture o pollen and nectar as is used by

Fig. 1. Top view o a nest of Hylaeus bisinuatus made in a nest ofLasioglossum zelhyrum; B, main burrow; C, Hylaeus cell inside Lasioglos-sum cell; M, cellophane-like membrane secreted by the Hylaeus.

76 Psyche [March

other Hylaeus, and each contained a larva. One larva became aprepupa on 6 july, a pupa on 7 July, and an adult female on I4 July;the other larvae were small and died.

Nests had from I to 3 Hylaeus cells ( = 1.7, n 6 nests), eachin a different Lasiog,lossum cell (Fig. 2). Both Hylaeus cells whichwere measured were 5 mm long and 3.5 mm in maximum diameterand at the ends of Lasioglossum cells. The walls of the cells had oldwax-like lining deposited by L. zephyrum (Batra, 1966). H. b/s-inuatus laid down two other cell linings to form its .cells: (I) a verythin "cellophane" layer visible under a microscope (3o X only whenlight strikes it at a certain angle and (z) a slightly thicker "cello-phane" layer over the first one. This thicker layer also. covered wallsof lateral burrows and parts of main burrows. A sheet of what ap-peared to be this same second layer closed off each cell and with theunaided eye the halictine cells appeared to be constricted where sucha sheet was placed. Complete removal of the cellophane-like material,however, shows the unmodified form of the halictine cell.H. bisinuatus used cells of L. zephyrum that were 0.8 to 4.5 cm

(:= 3.3 cm, n = 6 nests) from the nest entrances. Since L.ze#hyrum constructs cells this close to the surface of a soil bankonly in spring or early summer, the Hylaeus must have used early-season Lasioglossum cells made in the year of this study or possiblyin the previous year.

ACKNOWLEDGMEITSI thank Mr. Roy R. Snelling of the Los Angeles County Museum

of Natural History for identifying Hylaeus bisinuatus. He and Drs.Charles D. Michener and William J. Bell and Ms. Marjorie R.Chabot made important suggestions regarding this note. It is abyproduct of National Science Grant GB-385o2 (W. J. Bell andC. D. Michener, coprincipal investigators).

LITEP.ATURE CITED

BATRA, S. W. T.1966. The life cycle and behavior of the primitively social bee Lasio-

glossum zephyrum (Halietidae). Univ. Kansas Sei. Bull.359-423.

FERrO, C.1923. La vie des abeilles et des gupes, oeuvres choisies, groupies et

annote par ltienne Rabaud et Franqois Picard. ltienne Chiton,ed., 40 Rue de Seine, Paris. 376 pp.

1975] Barrows Hylaeus 77

LAROCA, S.1971. Notas s6bre a biologia de Hylaeus cecidonastes Moure (Hymen-

optera, Apoidea). Rev. Brasil. Biol. 32: 285-290.IALYSHEV, S. I.

1936. The nesting habits of solitary bees (a comparative study). Eos11 201-309.

MICHENER, C. D.1965. A classification of the bees of the Australian and South Pacific

Regions. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 130: 1-362.PIZRKIS, R. C. L. in PSltKIIs, R. C. L. AS A. FOREL.

1899. Fauna Hawaiiensis or the zoology of the Sandwich (Hawaiian)Isles. Vol. 1, Part 1. Hymenoptera, Aculeata. Cambridge Univ.Press. 122 pp.

SMXTH, F.1855. Catalogue ot British Hymenoptera: Part Apidae--bees. Lon-

don. 252 pp.STEPHEN, W. P., G. E. BOHART, AND P. E. TORCHIO.

1969. The biology and external morphology of bees with a synopsis ofthe genera of northwestern America. Agric. Exp. Station, OregonS. Univ., Corvallis. 140 pp.

STOEKHEItT, F. K.1933. Die Bienen Frankens (Hym. Apid.) Beiheft Deuts. Entomol.

Zeit. 1-294.

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o. · probably would have been found in all nests by folio,wing main bur-rows farther into the soil. Cells of Hylaeus were co,nstructed in cells of the Lasioglossum still having the