Abstract
The large carpenter bees nest in reeds, stems and wood. Many other Hymenoptera, including many wasps and some bees, have strong associations between the physical elements of their nests and behavior. Nests of the North American carpenter bee, Xylocopa virginica, were collected in southern Ontario. Nest architecture elements were examined with respect to their impact on life-history elements. In particular, it was determined that the brood cells are provisioned sequentially both within and among branches. There was also no detectable pattern of sex allocation in broods. Nests with branched architecture contained more foundresses, but these foundresses did not appear to contribute in the construction of larger nests. These findings are discussed with respect to other bees, and to the social structure of Xylocopa virginica.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the St. Catharines Parks Department for aid in collecting nests at Burgoyne Woods. This project benefited from discussions with J. Richardson and comments from three anonymous reviewers. SMP was funded by a National Science Engineering Research Council discovery grant to M.H. Richards and by funding from the Brock University Faculty of Mathematics and Science.
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Prager, S.M., Hunter, F.F. Relationships between Nest Architecture and Behavior in Xylocopa virginica (Hymenoptera: Apidae). J Insect Behav 24, 293–306 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-011-9256-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-011-9256-x