Dear bee biologists,
I want to learn how megachilid bees fill their ventral scopa. I am not interested in the legs movements rather than in the parts of the scopa which are filled first with pollen, which next and which last.
Klaus
I guess that in 'Osmia species the bristles are confmed to the galeae . They are strongly hooked in. The shape of the bristles varies from distinctly hooked to nearly straight.They collect pollen exclusively from Boraginaceae.the strong bristles on the tarsomera of pedes-I and on the mouth parts, respectively, are indeed used ta scrap~ pollen out of narrow flower tubes in order to overcome the lack of specialized pollen-collecting apparatus.
Great Question, never gave it much thought. From my experience with Osmia and Megachile, I find that partial pollen loads are more or less evenly distributed among all of the scopal brushes, and each brush is filled higher and higher, this might prevent pollen being lost during foraging. The central scopal brushes being deeper receive pollen first, thus the center of the scopa seems to be filled initially. I have never noticed scopal brushed being fully filled with pollen from one end of the abdomen or the other, but I could be mistaken, and perhaps there are species specific pollen handling behaviors among megachilid bees. Good luck and all the best,
Blair
Dear Blair,
the filling of the scopa is interesting in the context of pollination with scopal pollen. Some megachilid bees open keel blossoms and then the stigma gets in touch with scopal pollen. In this context it is interesting to know whether the pollen from recently visited flowers or earlier visited flowers are more likely to pollinate the stigma.
Kind regards,
Klaus
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