Specialization in pollen collection, pollination interactions and phenotypic variation of the oil-collecting bee Chalepogenus cocuccii

MAUBECIN, C.C.; BOERO, L.; SÉRSIC, A.N.

Apidologie

Springer

Año: 2020 vol. 51 p. 710 - 723

0044-8435

Bee pollen gathering from a few related plant species is a specialization known as oligolecty. Although it is an extended phenomenon, it has been scarcely explored in oilcollecting bees. At the geographic level, there is little information about oligolecty persistence and also about phenotypic variation of bees related with abiotic factors. We studied the pollen collection specialization of the oil-collecting bee Chalepogenus cocuccii, its pollination interactions and phenotypic variation across its distribution range, by analyses of pollen loads, field observations and morphometric measurements. Observations and pollen analyses showed that across its distribution range C. cocuccii preferred Nierembergia flowers not only for oil but also for pollen. We found two bee-morphotypes, though phenotypic variation was not related to abiotic variables. We postulate that C. cocuccii is a narrowly oligolectic species, phenotypically and ecologically specialized in Nierembergia.