A team of entomologists led by Utah State University researcher Dr. Michael Orr has described an unusual new species of bee from the deserts of the southwestern United States.
Nesting area of Anthophora pueblo in Utah’s San Rafael Desert. Image credit: Michael Orr, Utah State University.
The new species, Anthophora pueblo, belongs to one of the largest genera in the bee family Apidae.
“This species is named for its use of sandstone as a nesting substrate, reminiscent to the skilled use of sandstone by the Ancestral Puebloan people,” Dr. Orr and his colleagues explained.
Adult Anthophora pueblo are 10–14 mm in total body length. Although this level of variation may appear high, it is not unusual for bees to vary greatly in body size and mass.
Anthophora pueblo is a primarily spring species, flying from April to June.
“These bees are considered uncommon. As they use water to help excavate the sandstone, we found many sites by targeting areas near water,” Dr. Orr said.
He and his colleagues discovered five nesting sites of this species ranging from Ancestral Puebloan sandstone cliff dwellings at Colorado’s Mesa Verde and natural formations in southern Utah and California’s Death Valley.
“And longer examination of the bees revealed the benefits of the hard-earned homes in the xeric ecosystems,” Dr. Orr said.
“Sandstone is more durable than most other nesting options and any bees that do not emerge from these nests in a year are better protected.”
“Delayed emergence is a bet-hedging strategy for avoiding years with poor floral resources – especially useful in the drought-prone desert.”
He added: “further, the tough, elevated shelters protect bees from erosion and sudden flash floods.”
“They also help to control parasite build-up across years and may even deter growth of threatening microbes. Because sandstone contains less organic matter than typical soils, we expect more microbes that make their own food, such as photosynthetic cyanobacteria. These microbes would be less likely to invade bee nests.”
Anthophora pueblo is described in a paper published in the journal Current Biology.
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Michael C. Orr et al. 2016. A new bee species that excavates sandstone nests. Current Biology 26 (17): pR792–R793; doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.08.001
