No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Studies on the insects visiting apple flower at Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture
Abstract
The insects visiting apple flower were investigated at Kuroiso Branch of the Tochigi Agricultural Experiment Station during May 11 -May 17 in 1965. The results obtained are summarized as follows:1) The weather conditions during the period of observation were favorable for the flying activities of insect visitors, without remarkable deviation of air temperature and prevalence of fine and calm days.2) For the reason of abnormal low temperature in the early spring, the blooming period of all varieties used in this study delayed about 10 days than in an average year, though the amount of blossoms was relatively abundant.3) The insect visitors collected in this work were mostly hymenopterous and dipterous insects. Total individual number of Hymenoptera is 2018, that is, 8.3 times as large as that of Diptera. Iyymenopterous visitors belong to 45 species (5 families, 12 genera), while dipterous visitors belong to 17 species (5 families, 14 genera).4) The important visitors in Hymenoptera are arranged in the descending order as follows:Andrena opacifovea, Apis mellifera (honey bee), A. kaguya, Lasioglossum trispine, L. subfamiliare-complex, L. sp. ad. discrepans, A. sasakii, A. hebes, A. dentata, and Xylocopa appendiculata cirumvolans (cf. Table 3).The most numerous visitor of Diptera is Tubiferacerealis, then Bibio rufiventris is next, and other species are very scarce in number (cf. Table 4).5) Four species of Andrenid bees, A. opacifovea, A. sasakii, A. dentata and A. hebes are the mediumsized bees, as large as or slightly smaller than honey bee. Their total numbers reach 872 and occupying 43.2% of Hymenoptera. Further their visiting activities are very rapid and vigorous (=very quick and restless movements on flowers). Therefore they seem to be the most efficient visitors.6) Halictid bees seem to be inferior to Andrenid bees in pollinating efficiency because of smaller sizes, though they are numerous and their visiting activities are rapid and vigorous.\7) Both Tubifera cerealis and Bibio rufiventris are the dominant visitors in Diptera, but Bibio rufiventris is supposedly not an important pollinator, judging from their very sluggish activities. On the other hand, Tubifera cerealis is relatively active, so that it seems to be the most important pollinator among Diptera.
... Periodic monitoring of the wild bee community that can provide pollination services for apple is necessary because the community and the resultant pollination services can easily change in response to orchard management (Roquer-Beni et al. 2021) and surrounding land use (Holzschuh et al. 2012). However, since studies that reported flower visitors in Japan from 1962 to 1970 (Kobayashi 1971;Kobayashi et al. 1966;Tsugawa et al. 1967), few studies have closely surveyed them in recent years. In particular, small bees that visit apple flowers have not been well surveyed in Japan, although they would make up a considerable ratio of the total visitor species and individuals. ...
... We found for the first time that A. semirugosa brassicae was the predominant small bee species visiting apple flowers. In the past study by Kobayashi et al. (1966), the three major species here-A. semirugosa brassicae, A. luridiloma, and L. hoffmanni-were listed as minor visitors (Table S4). ...
Wild small bees are known to visit apple flowers along with honeybees and other bees. However, their species composition in Japan has not been well investigated for more than 50 years. Here, we identified 791 wild small bee individuals captured in seven apple orchards in four prefectures. Andrena semirugosa brassicae (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) was the predominant species visiting apple flowers in five orchards, although it had not been listed as a major visitor in past studies. This species was also the major visitor to dandelion flowers in the orchards. We deposited the sequences of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (CO1) of 250 individuals (7 genera; 32 species) in DDBJ to support the genetic identification of small bees widely observed in apple orchards in Japan.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.