NESTING BEHAVIOR AND BIOLOGY OF BLUE BANDED BEE, AMIGELLA MUCOREA (HYMENOPTERA: APIDAE) IN THE SANDY DESERT ECOSYSTEM

Blue-banded bee, Amigella mucorea Klug (Hymenoptera: Apidae), is medium-large, pubescent, long-tongued bee having the ability of buzz pollination and found in different parts of the world and remains active during warmer condition. Because of its ability of buzz pollinator, it is considered as an alternative of bumble bee along with Xylocopa sp. and less aggressive also having the ability to attract towards artificial nesting. Keeping in view the importance of this bee, present study was designed to explore the nesting behavior and biology of the A. mucorea by using simple mud bricks in the sandy desert ecosystem, where there was a significant population was examined. By providing two holes on each brick for facilitation of the bee and also bricks were preserved from wind and rain. Observation showed that bees were attracted to the artificial nests and remains active for formation of tunnels from morning to till evening. Females were attracted to these cells throughout the nesting season. A nest-seeking female stayed near the bricks for up to 15-20 min at a time before flying away to return after several to many minutes to resume searching. Females which had made previous nests at the site selected a hole fairly quickly, usually in 0.75-3 hours, but newcomers took longer, in one case more than a day. Each female entered several too many holes, some more than once, before starting to make a nest.