Flower-Visiting Records of the Native Bees of New Caledonia1
Donovan, B. J. (Barry James) | Munzinger, Jérôme | Pauly, A. | McPherson, Gordon
The flower-visiting records for the 43 species of bees considered to be native to New Caledonia show that females of 21 species visited 116 native species of plants in 69 genera and 41 families, and the bees were documented to carry pollen from 64 species and possibly four more. The plant families with the greatest number of species documented for visits by female bees were, in descending order: Myrtaceae (21), Dilleniaceae (10), Cunoniaceae (nine), Araliaceae (seven), Fabaceae (seven, encompassing the Caesalpinioideae, Mimosoideae, and Papilionoideae), Goodeniaceae (five), Proteaceae (five), Apocynaceae (four), Sapindaceae (four), and remaining families with one to three species. Females of six and possibly one more species carried pollen from each of Dilleniaceae and Myrtaceae, six carried pollen from Araliaceae, five from Goodeniaceae, four and possibly one more from Cunoniaceae, four from each of Fabaceae and Sapindaceae, and none to three from the remaining 34 families observed. For introduced plants, female bees of 12 species visited 54 species in 43 genera among 19 plant families and were documented to carry pollen from 31 and possibly one more species. For introduced plants, families with the highest number of species visited by female bees, in descending order, were: Asteraceae (12); Fabaceae (eight); Verbenaceae (seven); and Euphorbiaceae, Myrtaceae, and Solanaceae each with three. The remaining 13 families had either one or two species visited by bees. Females of seven species of bees carried pollen from Fabaceae, six from Asteraceae, three each from Myrtaceae and Solanaceae, and none to “2 + 1?” (two or possibly three) from remaining families. Only half a dozen species of native bees can be considered to be common, in that they can be expected to be observed reasonably regularly on a range of flowers. The ubiquitous introduced honey bee Apis mellifera L. and its constant foraging for nectar and pollen on a very wide range of flowers may outcompete many species of native bees, potentially reducing their numbers, and consequently obscuring their relationships with the flora.
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