Abstract
The ability of aculeate Hymenoptera to utilize wetlands is poorly understood, and descriptions of their nests and developmental stages are largely absent. Here we present results based on our survey of hymenopterans using galls induced by Lipara spp. flies on common reed Phragmites australis in the years 2015–2016. We studied 20,704 galls, of which 9,446 were longitudinally cut and the brood from them reared in the laboratory, while the remaining 11,258 galls reared in rearing bags also in laboratory conditions. We recorded eight species that were previously not known to nest in reed galls: cuckoo wasps Chrysis rutilans and Trichrysis pumilionis, solitary wasps Stenodynerus chevrieranus and Stenodynerus clypeopictus, and bees Pseudoanthidium tenellum, Stelis punctulatissima, Hylaeus communis and Hylaeus confusus. Forty five species of Hymenoptera: Aculeata are known to be associated with reed galls, of which 36 make their nests there, and the other are six parasitoids of the family Chrysididae and three cuckoo bees of the genus Stelis. Of these species, Pemphredon fabricii and in southern Europe also Heriades rubicola are very common in reed galls, followed by Hylaeus pectoralis and two species of the genus Trypoxylon. We also found new host-parasite associations: Chrysis angustula in nests of Pemphredon fabricii, Chrysis rutilans in nests of Stenodynerus clypeopictus, Trichrysis pumilionis in nests of Trypoxylon deceptorium, and Stelis breviuscula in nests of Heriades rubicola. We provide new descriptions of the nests of seven species nesting in reed galls and morphology of mature larvae of eight species nesting in reed galls and two parasitoids and one nest cleptoparasite. The larvae are usually very similar to those of related species but possess characteristics that make them easy to distinguish from related species. Our results show that common reeds are not only expansive and harmful, but very important for many insect species associated with habitats dominated by this plant species.
Highlights
Hymenoptera, together with Diptera, Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, represent the four most diverse insect groups, according to their species richness and with regard to variability of life strategies [1,2,3]
We recorded these five species nesting in Lipara-induced reed galls for the first time: solitary wasps Stenodynerus chevrieranus and Stenodynerus clypeopictus, the mason bee Pseudoanthidium tenellum, and bees Hylaeus communis and Hylaeus confusus
Chrysidea pumila) in nests of Trypoxylon deceptorium (Hungary: Sandorfalva, Szabadszallas), and we confirmed previous reports of the nest of cleptoparasite Stelis punctulatissima in the nest of Hoplitis leucomelana (Hungary: BodiSzek), Chrysis angustula in the nests of Pemphredon fabricii (Czech Republic: Novozameckyrybnık), and Trichrysis cyanea dominating in the nests of Trypoxylon deceptorium and Trypoxylon minus (Czech Republic, multiple localities, Slovakia: Virt)
Summary
Hymenoptera, together with Diptera, Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, represent the four most diverse insect groups, according to their species richness and with regard to variability of life strategies [1,2,3]. The gall-nesting Aculeata are species of various families, which form a specific guild. This ecological group is very heterogeneous, containing reed gall specialists, wetland species (that only occasionally use reed galls for nesting), and ubiquitous species that nest in various types of cavities as well as in reed galls [6]. There have been a variety of species-specific reports, Wolf [10] recorded Pemphredon fabricii (that time known as Pemphredon lethifer) together with several Lipara spp. and their parasitoids in reed galls collected at a single sampling site in Germany. The community of hymenopterans nesting in reed galls is rich and highly variable
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