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Rediviva parva Whitehead & Steiner

(Life: Kingdom: Metazoa (animals); Phylum: Arthropoda; Class: Hexapoda; Order: Hymenoptera; Superfamily: Apoidea; Family: Melittidae; Subfamily: Melittinae; Genus: Rediviva)

Rediviva parva Whitehead & Steiner, 2001. Holotype in Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town (SAMC). Type locality: South Africa, Holfontein, 20km south of Clanwilliam.

Classification


Holotype female SAM-HYM-B007517 (SAMC)

 
Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa)

"Allotype" male SAM-HYM-B007518 (SAMC)

 
Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa)

Insect cabinet drawers containing R. parva specimens in the Iziko South African Museum collection (SAMC). The first 3 columns in drawer HYM25-L14 are R. pallidula and the last 4 columns in HYM25-L17 are R. peringueyi.

Photographs © Iziko Museums of South Africa.


Distribution

South Africa.

Rediviva parva occurs on the coastal plain from Hondeklipbaai in the Northern Cape to Cape Point in the Western Cape. Inland it occurs on the Nieuwoudtville plateau and along the western side of the inland range to Stellenbosch. Disjunct populations occur further east at Montagu and Swellendam. It is possible that its eastward range is restricted by the absence of Hemimeris racemosa, its most favoured host plant (Whitehead & Steiner, 2001).

Biology

Females collect oil from fourteen species of oil-producing plants: Alonsoa unilabiata, Diascia capensis, D. pachyceras, D. lewisiae, D. batteniana, D. 'arenicola', D. 'arenicola' ssp. 'bulbosa', D. 'grantiana', D. elongata, D. ellaphieae, D. 'speciosa', Hemimeris racemosa, H. sabulos. (Whitehead & Steiner, 2001).

Nectar plants visited by females: Moraea miniata, Oxalis obtusa, O. pes-caprae, Cysticapnos vesicaria, Geissorhiza asp era, Wachendorfia paniculata, Nylandtia spinosa, Heliophila and Trachyandra spp. Males occasionally patrolled oil host plants and have been collected cruising over H. racemosa and D. capensis but the greatest number were collected on six species of nectar plants. The majority (52%) were visiting O. pes-caprae, O. obtusa and an unidentified Oxalis. Cysticapnos vesicaria was also attractive and 10 per cent were taken on this plant. The remaining males were on M. miniata, Hermannia sp. and Wachendorfia paniculata (Whitehead & Steiner, 2001).

References

Cockerell, T.D.A. 1934. Descriptions and records of bees.—CXLVIII. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, (ser. 10) 13: 444–456.

Eardley, C & Urban, R. 2010. Catalogue of Afrotropical bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apiformes). Zootaxa 2455: 1-548.

Eardley, C, Finnamore, A.T. & Michener, C.D. 1993. Superfamily Apoidea (pp. 279-357). In GOULET, H. & HUBER, J. (eds). Hymenoptera of the World: an identification guide to families. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 668 pp.

Friese, H. 1909. 8. Hymenoptera. 5. Apidae. In: Sjoestedts, B.Y. (Ed.) Kilimandjaro-Meru Expedition. Stockholm, 8: pp. 119–168.

Friese, H. 1915. Zur Bienenfauna von Abessinien. (Hym.). Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, 1915: 265–298.

Kuhlmann, M. 2009. Patterns of diversity, endemism and distribution of bees (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Anthophila) in southern Africa. South African Journal of Botany, 75: 726–738.

Kuhlmann, M. 2012. Two new species of the South African endemic bee genus Rediviva Friese (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Melittidae). Zootaxa 3517: 71–78.

Kuhlmann, M. & Eardley, C.D. 2012. Pollen resources of non-Apis bees in southern Africa. In: Patiny, S. (Ed.) Evolution of plant-pollinator relationships. Oxford University Press, Cambridge, pp. 439–456.

Manning, J. C. & Brothers, D.J. 1986. Floral relations of for species of Rediviva in Natal (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Melittidae). Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa, 49: 107–114.

Manning, J. & Goldblatt, P. 2002. The pollination of Tritoniopsis parviflora (Iridaceae) by the oil-collecting bee Rediviva gigas (Hymenoptera: Melittidae): the first record of oil-secretion in African Iridaceae. South African Journal of Botany, 87: 171–176.

Michener, C.D. 1981. Classification of the bee family Melittidae with a review of species of Meganomiinae. Contributions of the American Entomological Institute, 18: 1–135.

Michener, C.D. 2007. The Bees of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 992 pp.

Michez, D., Patiny, S. & Danforth, B.N. 2009. Phylogeny of the bee family Melittidae (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) based on combined molecular and morphological data. Systematic Entomology, 34: 574–597.

Pauw, A. 2006. Floral syndromes accurately predict pollination by a specialized oil-collecting bee (Rediviva peringueyi, Melittidae) in a guild of South African orchids (Coryciinae). American Journal of Botany, 93: 917–926.

Pauw A, Kahnt B, Kuhlmann M, Michez D, Montgomery GA, Murray E, Danforth BN. 2017. Long-legged bees make adaptive leaps: linking adaptation to coevolution in a plant–pollinator network. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 284: 20171707.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.1707

Robertson, H.G. & Cochrane, M.A. 2005. Obituary - Vincent Booth Whitehead (2 September 1921–11 April 2005). African Entomology, 13: 386–389.

Steiner, K.E. & Whitehead, V.B. 1990. Pollinator adaptation to oil-secreting flowers–Rediviva and Diascia. Evolution, 44: 1701–1707.

Steiner, K.E. & Whitehead, V.B. 1991. Oil flowers and oil bees: further evidence for pollinator adaptation. Evolution, 45: 1493–1501.

Vogel, S., & Michener, C. D. 1985. Long bee legs and oil-producing floral spurs, and a new Rediviva (Hymenoptera, Melittidae; Scrophulariaceae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 58: 359-364.

Whitehead, V.B. & Steiner, K.E. 2001. Oil-collecting bees of the winter rainfall area of South Africa (Melittidae, Rediviva). Annals of the South African Museum, 108: 143–277.

Whitehead, V.B., Steiner, K.E. & Eardley, C.D. 2008. Oil-collecting bees mostly of the summer rainfall area of southern Africa (Hymenoptera: Melittidae: Rediviva). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 81: 122–141.

Credits

Photographs © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).

Map illustration © Simon van Noort (Iziko Museums of South Africa).


Web author Simon van Noort (Iziko South African Museum)

 

Citation: van Noort, S. 2024. WaspWeb: Hymenoptera of the World. URL: www.waspweb.org (accessed on <day/month/year>).

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