Chalicodoma parietina

Chalicodoma parietina (lat.) - a species of bees from the family Megachilidae .

Chalicodoma parietina
Female
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animals Type of: Arthropods Grade: Insects Squad: Hymenoptera Suborder: Apocrita Superfamily: Apoidea Family: Megachilidae Subfamily: Megachilinae Gender: Masons Bees View: Chalicodoma parietina
Latin name
Chalicodoma parietina ( Fourcroy , 1785)
Synonyms
Megachile parietina Chalicodoma muraria

Females of this species are 15–20 mm long, covered with black hairs, only collective hairs in the middle are rusty red. The wings are brown with a purple tint. Males 11-16 mm long, with reddish-red hairs, only abdomen, starting from 4 rings, black. The wings are transparent, smoky at the edges.

It is common in all of central and southern Europe. In the spring (April and May), females and males leave their winter shelters, fly in colors and copulate, after which the males soon die, and the females build nests, sticking them to stones, rocks or wall buildings. At some small depression, the female builds a very solid cell from sand grains and small stones glued together with saliva. The cell has the shape of a thimble tapering upward and can be up to 2-7 cm long. The female fills it with gruel food (a mixture of flower dust and nectar), lays one testicle and closes the cell tightly. Then, a few more cells (up to 11) are arranged around the first cell, located in a mess, partly next to each other, partly on top of one another. Such a group of cells forms a nest. The nest is covered with a layer of sand from above, and the roughnesses of its surface are smoothed out. For the most part, each female builds 2 nests of 4-6 cells. Construction lasts 2-3 weeks. By early July, the nest construction period ends, and the females die. Usually on one wall are placed several nests belonging to different females, which often come to grips with each other due to the possession of cells.

The eggs are cylindrical in shape, rounded at the end, transparent and 3.5–4 mm long. They float on the surface of the food slurry. Larvae emerging from the eggs, 2 weeks after laying, also swim first on the slurry, and then, as the food supply is destroyed, they drop. After 4 weeks they turn into pupae, surrounding themselves with a silk-like cocoon. In early October, perfect insects emerge from the pupae, remaining in the cocoon to winter until spring, when they make, with the help of their jaws, holes in the nest and fly out.

The species has a lot of enemies laying eggs in the cells of the bee, while they have not yet been patched. These are many horseback riders, for example Monodontomerus chalicodomae from the family of centipedes ( Chalcididae ), the bee Stelis nasuta from the group of cuckoo bees ( Apidae inquilinae ), the marmot fly Argyromoeba subnotata from the family buzzing ( Bomhyliidae ) and others. The larvae of these insects suck out the bee larvae. The parasite is also the larva of the beetle Meloe erythrocnemis , which in its first stage ( triungulin , see hypermetamorphosis ) adheres to the female bee and thus enters the cell where the larva destroys Chalicodoma parietina eggs and then feeds on food gruel.