The native bee fauna of the Palouse Prairie (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)

Abstract

While synoptic collections provide data on the range and general composition of the North American bee fauna, bee communities associated with specific habitats are largely uncharacterized. This report describes the community of native bees currently found in remnant fragments of the Palouse Prairie of northern Idaho and southeastern Washington State. Native bees were collected using standardized collection techniques including blue vane traps, colored pan traps and aerial netting. More than 13,000 individuals were collected, representing at least 174 species and 36 morphospecies in 29 genera. These data provide the most thorough characterization of the bee fauna of this vulnerable ecosystem, as well as community level information on bee species of unknown conservation status. These results are relevant to regional conservation efforts and, more broadly, are representative of conditions in fragmented grasslands surrounded by intense agriculture, a common global land use pattern of conservation concern.