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Mating System and Sleeping Behaviour of the Male and Female Centris (Paracentris) burgdorfi Friese (Apidae, Centridini)

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Abstract

We describe the mating behaviour of males of Centris (Paracentris) burgdorfi, a solitary, univoltine bee, with a wide distribution in Brazil. We also describe the unusual sleeping sites of males and females. The study was performed during two breeding seasons, in northeastern Brazil, where the species nests in aggregations in petrified dunes. Data on mating behaviour were collected through direct observations of the bees at the nesting-emergence site. Males compete intensely for virgin females in the morning, sometimes killing rivals. The high competition for females near the nesting site makes that the male has to take the female to another place to get genital contact. In the evening, males do not use plants to spend the night, instead they aggregate in sleeping clusters inside old burrows in the nesting-emergence area while females sleep in groups on plants that provide the floral oil used in nest construction.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Paulo Roberto de Castro for the help and all support in the field work and to Astrid Kleinert, Carlos A. Garófalo, Felipe Vivallo, Reisla Oliveira, Roberto Shimizu e Sheina Koffler for comments and suggestions in the manuscript and, especially, John Alcock for critical reading and valuable recommendations to the manuscript. We also thank to the two anonymous reviewers who helped to improve the manuscript. The research was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).

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  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    William O. Sabino, Cláudia Inês da Silva & Isabel Alves-dos-Santos

  2. Departamento de Zootecnia, Centro de Ciências Agrárias, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil

    Cláudia Inês da Silva

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  1. William O. Sabino
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O. Sabino, W., da Silva, C.I. & Alves-dos-Santos, I. Mating System and Sleeping Behaviour of the Male and Female Centris (Paracentris) burgdorfi Friese (Apidae, Centridini). J Insect Behav 30, 103–118 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-017-9600-x

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