Ecology and Behavior of Melecta separata callura (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae)

Melecta separata callura (Cockerell), the primary biotic enemy of Anthophora edwardsii Cresson, behaves similarly to its European congeners, but differently from other North American parasitic melectine and nomadine bees. Features unique to Melecta (s. str.) include: digging through the soil plug of the completed host burrow; opening a small hole in the cap of the cell; ovipositing through this opening and attaching its egg to the roof or upper cell wall; resealing the cell; and replugging the host burrow. The bees spin a cocoon. They pupate in the autumn and overwinter as adults in the cells of their hosts. Melecta was parasitized by Sphaeropthalma unicolor (Cresson) and an undetermined bomblyiid fly. With the exception of a few host associations and flower records, there have been no studies on the ecology and behavior of any North American species of Melecta. Some features of the life history and interrelationships with host species have been worked out for the related Xeromelecta californica (Cresson) by Linsley and MacSwain (1942) and Porter (1951). These studies serve as a useful basis for comparisons between the two genera. In addition, a few studies on the ecology and behavior of European species of Melecta M. armata Panzer by Semichon (1904, 1911, 1922, 1925) and Malyshev (1928) and M. luctuosa Scopoli by Giordani-Soika (1936) provide a basis for intrageneric comparisons. Melecta (Melecta) separata callura (Cockerell) is a parasite of Anthophora edwardsii Cresson. The present study was conducted at a site near Coalinga and is; supplemented by unpublished 1947 observations made at a site near Somersville by Drs. E. G. Linsley, J. W. MacSwain and R. F. Smith. Thorp (1969) has discussed the ecology of the host bee, the habitats of the two sites where M. separata was studied, the temporal and spatial distribution of the two species, and has briefly outlined the ecology of the parasite. The present paper treats in more detail the behavior of the adult females. associated with oviposition, and the feeding behavior and development of the larvae of