Natural history and maternal investment of Ceratina cucurbitina, the most common European small carpenter bee, in different European regions
Abstrakt
Many organisms are known to have wide distribution ranges, which cover large variability of ecological conditions. Therefore, natural history traits can differ throughout the distributional range, and, thus, studies on the natural history of traits from multiple areas of a single species are highly valuable.
Ceratina cucurbitina is the most common small carpenter bee in Europe. We examined the social status of nests and maternal investment in four European locations: Czech Republic, Italy, Albania, and Crete.
This species is solitary in all studied locations. We found evidence for nest reuse and founding of multiple nests per year; however, this behavior is relatively uncommon.
The average number of brood cells provisioned was 8.75; however, this value was significantly lower in Crete than in other regions. Sex of offspring was related to brood cell position; the inner brood cells tended to be female-biased and outer brood cells male-biased.
Despite that, we did not find evidence for the typical dwarf eldest daughter pattern of maternal investment in most studied regions. Generally, conditions for C. cucurbitina reproduction seem to be better in the center of the range (Italy, Albania) than on the margins (Czech Republic, Crete).
A higher number of brood cell provisioned and/or larger size of offspring was found in central regions than in marginal regions.