PROC. ENTOMOL. SOC. WASH. 96(1). 1994, pp. 98-119 ANTHOPHORA PILIPES VILLOSULA SM. (HYMENOPTEIL\: ANTHOPHORIDAE), A MANAGEABLE JAPANESE BEE THAT VISITS BLUEBERRIES AND APPLES DURING COOL, RAINY, SPRING WEATHER Suzanne W. T. Batra Bee Research Laboraton. ARS. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bldg. 476, Beltsville, Mar>land 20705. Abstract. — Jht vernal, univoltine solitar\ Japanese bee, Anthophora pilipes villosula, promises to be a worthy addition to our pollinator fauna. It was easily maintained in inexpensive, portable adobe blocks. It is gentle, forages during inclement weather, also from before dawn until after dusk in fine weather. It is polylectic, does not steal nectar, flies rapidly, forages to 500 m, visits numerous flowers including blueberry and apple, and sonicates. Its active period coincides well with spring fruit blossom in the temperate zone. Females may make several nests, learning new nest locations. Dormant nests in adobe blocks were kept outdoors through five years in Mary land with minimal insulation, and the population approximately tripled each year. Details are provided regarding its behavior in Japan and Maryland, including phenology in relation to crops, wild plants and other bees, hosts, foraging beha\ ior, effects of weather, management, substrate and nesting behavior, territorial behavior of males and mating. Key Words: Pollination, bee, apple, blueberry, bionomics, management, Japan, U.S.A. This report concerns the biology of a dy-namic pollinator that efficiently utilizes the abundant floral resources of spring, dis-cusses its limiting environmental factors, and its potential management for the pol-lination of crops that bloom in the spring. Honey bees are versatile, manageable pol-linators for most crops, and they also pro-\ide us with valued honey and wax. but they are not the best pollinating species for all crops, under all conditions. For example, they do not perform as well as bumble bees and some solitary bees in cool or rainy weather. They fly relatively slowly, and they have morphological limitations or behav-iors that make them less efficient than some other bee species as pollinators of certain crops, including alfalfa, red clover. 'Deli-cious" apples, blueberries, huckleberries. cranberries, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, peppers, cotton, okra, and many crops that are grown in greenhouses {Boyle and Philo-gene 1983. Parker et al. 1987). Blueberries are particularly poorly polli-nated by honey bees. The short spring flow-ering season is often rainy or cool, and hon-ey bees do not sonicate, which pollinates blueberry flowers efficiently. Because pop-ulations of the well-adapted and effective native blueberry pollinators are often low. due to habitat destruction and pesticides, growers may saturate their blueberry fields with honey bees in order to achieve ade-quate pollination. Nevertheless, rainy weather may prevent these honey bees from foraging. Doubts about the effectiveness of honey bees arose early during the development of
Anthrophora pilipes villosula sm. (Hymenoptera: Anthrophoridae), a manageable Japanese bee that visits blueberries, and apples during coll, rainy, spring weather
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