D3128: Intertegular distance of wild bees and its use in estimating proboscis lengths and foraging ranges to better understand bee conservation ecology

Wild bees are increasingly recognized for their valuable contribution to crop yields that rely on insect pollination. To design optimal floral resources to support a high level of wild bee diversity and abundance, it is helpful to consider the morphology of the various species and how their varied allometry impacts plant-pollinator preferences, pollinator efficiency, and foraging range in an increasingly fragmented habitat. Body size measurements are helpful for standardizing comparisons made in the study of bee foraging ecology, specifically, dry weights and proboscis lengths. However, these proportions are challenging to measure and destructive to specimen collections. Intertegular distances have been shown to be an effective proxy to estimate these morphometrics, as well as a bee species’ typical foraging range. Intertegular distances are not available in the literature for all bee species. The main objective of this study was to measure intertegular distances of over 150 species and calculate estimated proboscis lengths and foraging ranges and investigate how these characteristics relate to other aspects of the bee community ecology, such as; nesting guilds, sociality, dietary specificity, and emergence seasonality. A better understanding of nesting habits and foraging behavior of a bee community will help local growers and conservationists design and manage habitat to best provide for the majority of the bee species with the resources they need to maximize diversity and abundance which leads to higher pollination services, yields, and profits.