Seasonal changes in odour preferences by male euglossine bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and their ecological implications

Stefan Abrahamczyk , Peter Gottleuber , Michael Kessler

Orchid bees are an important group of specialized insect pollinators in the Neotropics. Male orchid bees are attracted by a wide range of aromatic substances often produced by flowers. Previous studies found that in some species the males change their aromatic preferences between seasons. In our study we documented seasonal changes of aromatic preferences in five euglossine bee assemblages along a 380-km-long seasonality and precipitation gradient and related them to climatic factors. We found that the proportion of species per site showing changes in their aromatic preference between seasons increased with climatic seasonality towards the south. Those species mainly belong to the genus Euglossa, subgenus Euglossa. We conclude that climatic seasonality mainly affects the orchid bees via the turnover of the aromatic substances provided by the plants. Further, we suggest that the ability to change the aromatic preference between seasons could be interpreted as a phylogenetic pre-adaptation that enabled some species to colonize climatically strongly seasonal habitats.

Mots clés: climatic gradient; precipitation; temperature; distribution; generalist

Domaines: Zoologie des invertébrés; Biodiversité; Ecologie, Environnement; Science des productions animales

Stefan Abrahamczyk, Peter Gottleuber, Michael Kessler. Seasonal changes in odour preferences by male euglossine bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) and their ecological implications. Apidologie, 2012, 43 (2), pp.212-217. ⟨10.1007/s13592-011-0096-7⟩. ⟨hal-01003636⟩