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HYMENOPTERA, Stelidae (Apoidea) (Taxonomic grouping doubtful). -- <Images>
& <Juveniles> Description
Clausen (1940) discussed
bees in the Stelidae are inquilines in the cells of other bees, principally
Megachilidae. Clausen (1940) noted
that attack on the early stages of the host in the cell is mainly for the
purpose of eliminating a rival for the food supply. In Europe, Stelis nasuta Latr. attacks the cells of Chalicodoma muraria F. (Fabre 1886).
Such cells are made of a hard, plaster-like substance, ca. 1 cm.
thick, which the female must penetrate before oviposition is possible. The lid is removed with her mandibles, and
several eggs are laid next to the host.
After ovipositing, the cell is sealed by the stelid. The young larvae of the host and stelid
feed in the same area without interference; but the Stelis larva develops more rapidly and the host does not attain
sufficient food to complete development.
In S. minuta Nyl., the female lays the egg on the food material in the
open cell of Osmia leucomeleana Kirby before the latter
lays her egg (Verhoeff 1892). The Stelis egg hatches first, and for some
time the two larvae feed independently on the beebread, the parasitoid at the
bottom and the host at the top.
Development of the former is quicker and eventually the latter
consumes the host larva. Extended accounts of the behavior of a member of the family is
given by Graenicher (1905b) on Stelis
sexmaculata Ashm., which develops
in the cells of Andronicus productus Cress. The egg is laid while the host is in
either the egg or the larval stage, and the young Stelis larva possesses long falcate mandibles that extent forward
similar to those of a chrysopid larva.
It is very aggressive and, although considerably smaller than the host
(ca. 1/4th as long) it is able to overcome it. The invader feeds on honey and pollen stored in the cell, and
finishes development after the host is killed. References: Please refer to <biology.ref.htm>, [Additional references
may be found at: MELVYL
Library] Bluhm, B. A., I. R. MacDonald, C. Debenham
& K. Iken. 2004. Macro and
Megabenthic Communities in the High Arctic Canada Basin: Initial
Findings. Polar Biology 28: 218-231 |