Are we missing the Persimmon Boat?

[Droege, Sam]

All

Today, when going through specimens collected this year, I ran into 2 Perdita discreta females.  Recall that prior to last year this species was only know from the Carolina sandhill area.  Jay Davis last year was collecting bees on American persimmon while standing on the roof of his truck and collected this species in Delaware, quite a distance from the Carolinas. Taking a cue from Jay, I hung 3 stadium cups of salt brine (yellow, blue, white) about 15' up a Persimmon tree in the Research Center's "boneyard" a weedy junk yard, no sand present and found 2 specimens of P.discreta in the catch (June 4-18).

So, here are my thoughts:

1. P. discreta is likely a Persimmon specialist
2. This species may be far more common than we thought.
3. American persimmon and the Texas persimmon occupy much of the East up to the bottom of New England and the Great Lakes to about the edge of the Prairie.
4. Persimmons bloom late, bloom is generally out of normal net reach, the blooms are relatively innocuous, and other (lower) blooming plants compete for our attention. 
5. It would be very interesting to do a survey of Persimmon throughout its range and it would appear that hanging traps may be the way to go (not sure which color they preferred).

Did anyone else collect on persimmons this year?

I will also put in a suggestion to collect on Black Gum as well.

Sam

Outside Thermalito

Persimmons ripen with the first frost.
The bitterness inflicted on them
takes their bitterness away.

Would that there were some other way.

- D. A. Powell

Keep your Property Half Wild

Cell: 301 433 5390

Alternative email: droe...@gmail.com

 

[Tanner Bland]

Hi Sam,

I've had this same experience with P. michelbacheri among other species and tall desert plants. So many males and females hitting saguaro and ocotillo flowers 15-20+ feet up in the air yet these bees are seemingly "uncommon." I wouldn't be surprised that some eastern species are occupying the same niche.

Very cool finding. Excited to see if any one else has seen this phenomenon with Perdita or other Panurginae as well.

Tanner Bland
MS Entomology and Insect Science

Tucson Bee Collaborative Program Coordinator

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
309-840-4739 | tbl...@desertmuseum.org

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[Droege, Sam]

Just another example of if you don't look in the right place you won't find them.  Am looking forward to seeing how well the traps did this year on plants with specialist bees.

Sam

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From: Tanner Bland <tmbl...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2026 3:51 PM
To: Droege, Sam <sdr...@usgs.gov>
Cc: 'Google Groups' via beemonitoring <beemon...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [Beemonitoring] Are we missing the Persimmon Boat?

 

 

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