About the studying of the nesting sites of Xylocopa valga and Ceratina chalybea bees in the South-Eastern Ukraine (p.)
Abstract
The main aim of this paper was to characterize the nests of two apidea species Xylocopa valga Gerstaecker (1872) and Ceratina chalybea Chevrier (1872), subfamily Xylocopinae, within the south-eastern Ukraine as well as to reveal some aspects of their nesting sites.The study has been carried out from 1996 untill 2013 in the territory of Donetsk and Lugansk regions. The chief method of study involved searching the nests of the species in different landscapes of the territory under research and description and photography of nesting sites. To study the nesting sites of Ceratina chalybea, artificial nests were applied – sheaf of dry pieces of raspberry and black elderberry stalks. Totally, there were 5 nesting sites of Xylocopa valga studied and no less than 20 nests of Ceratina chalybea collected during the period of study.Among all the species of this genus, X. valga is the largest in number and has the broadest distribution in the south-eastern Ukraine. In natural conditions X. valga build nests in dry wood (such as dead and dying trees, roof rafters, wooden pillars), gnawing the wood. Moreover a fact of building a nest in the empty cavity of the reed (neste-trap) was described (Ivanov, Fateryga, 2005). We observed nests building in dead but not fallen trunks of different trees (Malus sylvestris Mill., Pyrus communis L., Salix sp., Quercus robur L.).Ceratina chalybea [syn. C. callosa (F.)] is one of common and widely spread in the south-eastern Ukraine. Ecologically Thamnobiont and chortobiont are closely associated with the herb and shrub layer. The nests of C. chalybea were detected in dry stalks of herbaceous plants (Salvia aethiops L., Helianthus annuus L.) and bushes (Sambucus nigra L., Rubus idaeus L.) of different biotopes. The nest buildug of this type was observed in peculiar sites, common for steppe landscapes – dry embryophytes such as tumbleweed (in particular, in stalks of Salvia aethiops) as well as in artificial nests (bundles of pieces of dry raspberry stalks).References
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