Phoretic Mite Fauna on the Large Carpenter Bee Xylocopa appendiculata circumvolans (Hymenoptera: Apidae) with Descriptions of its Acarinaria on Both Sexes.

Abstract

Both females and males of the Japanese large carpenter bee Xylocopa appendiculata circumvolans Smith had a pair of mesosomal acarinaria behind the wing bases as well as the metasomal one in the first tergum. The opening to the mesosomal acarinarium was larger in male bees than in females. The metasomal acarinarium was a narrow and shallow groove rather than the invaginated chamber reported in X. flavorufa or X. latipes. Three species of mite deutonymphs were collected from X. a. circumvolans: Sennertia japonica, S. alfkeni, and Horstia helenae, of which the first two species greatly outnumbered the last. All three species were supposed to be scavengers feeding on various kinds of debris in nests of the host and cleptoparasites eating stored pollen. Sennertia japonica, which was smaller than S. alfkeni, mainly occurred in the acarinaria and wing bases, while S. alfkeni mainly in dorsolateral hair, probably because S. alfkeni was too large to enter the acarinaria. We discussed the significance of acarinarium in the genus Xylocopa from the viewpoint of mite-bee interactions.