Questions on tergal malformation

[Harmon-Threatt, Alexandra]

Hi all,

     Im digging into some bees that have sat for a while and in this particular set am seeing a lot of strange malformation, colorations, etc. 

A bit of background: this set of bees are from the first year post restoration and I'm wondering if some of the things we see are from historical contamination? 

The one photographed in particular struck me. I've looked at a lot of bees and I dont think I've ever seen this. We also have a lot of bees (lasioglossum) lacking metallic coloration maybe the same leucism mentioned a few days ago. 

Any idea on what causes this kind of tergal malformation? Or other things I'm seeing? 

Thanks 

Alex 

Sent from my mobile

[Douglas Yanega]

I worked with Halictus rubicundus for 9 years, and looked at hundreds upon hundreds of them - I encountered maybe 3 or 4 (1 male, a few females) that had tergal margins that were "misaligned" (i.e., the right posterior edge of T3 would dive down and fuse with the left posterior edge of T4, or something similar). I had assumed these were some minor homeobox mutation that caused segmentation anomalies. Internally, the organs were fine - it was strictly integumental.

Peace,

-- 
Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314    phone: 951-827-4315
FaceBook: Doug Yanega (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
             https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82

[Russel Barsh]

Alexandra --

Could you share some context about the restoration site? What activities were historically conducted there? That would provide clues to the kinds of contaminants that may persist in soils and plants growing in those soils, and whether they might produce developmental defects in Hymenopterans. My lab has been working on several sites in the Northwest with military history where we encounter persistent residues of endocrine-disrupting compounds such as dioxins and PFAS. Many non-military activities can leave a shadow of these compounds, too, Best to identify the most likely threats, if even simply to rule them out as causative.

Russel.

--
Russel Barsh
Director, KWIAHT
PO Box 415, Lopez Island WA 98261
www.kwiaht.orgilrthwest that had a 

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Russel Barsh

Director, KWIAHT

PO Box 415, Lopez Island WA 98261

http://www.kwiaht.org

[C. K. Pei]

I see twisted tergites occasionally in North Dakota (along with other kinda entertaining deformities) and it seems to occur across different bee groups. I had this one recently on an Andrena that was caught last year on national grasslands but it was a little more fun because the tergites were fused- I hadn't seen that yet. I always just figured they were similar to what Doug had mentioned where it was some mutation.

CK Pei

[kirap...@gmail.com]

I encountered a similar aberrant bee with twisted tergites in 2024 at the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve. It was a Heriades carinata and was the only one with this deformity. Others of the same species were caught in this location on the same day and didn’t have this appearance. I assumed that in this case it was just a developmental deformity.

 

Kira Peters (she/her)

Honours Biology BSc.

Entomology MSc.

University of Manitoba

pet...@myumanitoba.ca

(226)-929-0906

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[Jason Gibbs]

Definitely see similar things from time to time. And also things like this on occasion:

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/54814#page/465/mode/1up

Jason Gibbs | Associate Professor | Curator

J. B. Wallis / R. E. Roughley Museum of Entomology 

Department of Entomology, University of Manitoba
12 Dafoe Rd. Animal Science/Entomology Bldg

Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada 

(he/him/his) 

 

I live and work in the traditional lands of the Anishinaabeg, Ininew, Anisininew, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the National Homeland of the Red River Métis .

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