do cleptoparasites ever clobber aggregated ground-nesters?

[James Cane]

Hi folks- I'm looking for published reports of nesting aggregations of ground-nesting bees being gradually exterminated by cleptoparasitic bees. I reported on such a case for a bee was not previously known to form nesting aggregations:

Cane, J. H., D. Schiffhauer and L. J. Kervin. 1996. Pollination, foraging and nesting ecology of the leaf-cutting bee, Megachile (Delomegachile) addenda (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) on cranberry beds (Vaccinium macrocarpon). Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer. 89: 361-367.

From the title, though, you'd never expect to find the phenomenon in the paper, which is probably true for any other reported instances too. I didn't do a great job of quantifying the population's decline, as we were busy proving that the bee is an effective cranberry pollinator and working out its life history. But in the final year, only Coelioxys emerged at the aggregation. Have you come across any other examples?

Alas, I'd never thought to add a keyword about this phenomenon to my reference manager. 

I did publish a compilation of long-lived ground-nesting aggregations, wherein cleptoparasites presumably do not locally overrun their bee host. I'm sure that I missed some examples.

yerz, jim 

--

James H. Cane

Native bee and pollination ecologist

Emeritus USDA-ARS Bee Lab, Logan, Utah

owner -  WildBeecology

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jim-Cane

https://www.zotero.org/jimbee

https://sites.google.com/view/jimcanewildbeecology/home

"Knowledge and comprehension are the joy and justification of humanity"
 Alexander von Humboldt

[laurence packer]

Knerer reported it in the paper cited below - but it's in german

I had someone translate it into a cassette tape for me in the late

70s (to those too young to remember the 70s - cassette tapes were

common devices for recording sounds back then ;)

but all I have left of that is vague memories - parts of which were

outlined on pages 165-166 of 'keeping the bees' - where I talk about

the Sphecodes' nest entrance strategy. But those cuckoo bees

as well as mutillids and I think an asilid caused population crashes

at an aggregation.  I have no idea why I called the host the "messenger

sweat bee" not the words the older me would have chosen.....

 

here's the citation

 

Knerer, G. "Periodizitat und strategie der schmarotzer einer sozialen schmalbiene, Evylaeus malachurus (K.)(Apoidea: Halictidae)." Zoologischer Anzeiger 190 (1973): 41-63.

 

 

Sent: Friday, March 06, 2026 at 4:45 PM
From: "James Cane" <jim....@gmail.com>
To: "Bee Monitoring" <beemon...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [Beemonitoring] do cleptoparasites ever clobber aggregated ground-nesters?

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "beemonitoring" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to beemonitorin...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/beemonitoring/CAJu7%2BBnv7PP%2B871n%3DXhC6%2BKR-dimVOrcUZn8LzQeStUzJH1nUQ%40mail.gmail.com.