The bee-leaf cutter by its habits is not at all like an ordinary toiler of a hive. She does not produce honey and does not live a large family. Leaf cutters settle alone. It is they who leave round or oval cutouts on the leaves, which often spoil the appearance of garden flowers. But nevertheless, the leaf cutter bee is an important element of the ecosystem.
Subspecies Description
Leaf cutter bee is an insect belonging to the Megahild family. Outwardly, it looks like an ordinary honey bee.
The main differences:
- brighter contrasting coloring - a light abdomen can be colored from yellow to brown, and the upper part is black with a blue, purple or green tint;
- long densely located light villi on the abdomen, with them a bee pollinates plants;
- powerful and strong jaws;
- large head and abdomen;
- the sting is not poisonous.
Females and males have a few differences:
- females reach a length of 1.2 centimeters, and males - 1.1 centimeters;
- in females the abdomen is covered with hairs more, and in males - the head.
Leaf cutter bees have several subspecies that differ in which leaves they prefer:
- hare-like ones love lilac, acacia, cherry, quince;
- silvery choose foliage of dogwood, rose, pomegranate;
- reed, reed, cistus, grape suitable;
- silky can choose from oak leaves, hawthorn, vineyards, and sage;
- apical cuts circles on the leaves of hawthorn and wild rose.
Ovals and circles are cut out on the leaves of the bee with the jaws, and the rotation of the body during the cutting process betrays them the correct shape.
Features of life
Leaf cutter bee lives in Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, Australia. They do not like cold regions with long and frosty winters, such as, for example, the North of Russia or the highlands. Despite the wide territorial distribution, the number of these insects is small, and scientists are calling for their protection and protection.
Leaf cutters are already listed in the Red Book of a number of regions of the Russian Federation: Lipetsk, Saratov, Kursk and Belgorod regions.
Males and females live separately. Meet only for fertilization, after which the drone dies pretty soon. The maximum time of his life is 1 month. The female lives 2 months. For such a short period of time, she manages to create a nest, lay 20-40 larvae (female individuals appear from the fertilized, males from the unfertilized ones), and collect the feed base for them.
A place for nesting can serve:
- earthworm minks;
- emptiness of reeds or reeds;
- rotten trees;
- holes from nails and screws in wooden boards;
- special "houses".
In fact, any cutter of cylindrical shape close to food resources (gardens, meadows, fields) is suitable for a leaf-cutting bee. She settles in the chosen place alone, it is extremely rare for 2 females to share one mink.
Due to the fact that this species makes holes in the leaves, many believe that these insects feed on them. In fact, leaf-cutting bees eat nectar and pollen of flowers, and the circles cut from the leaves are needed to create nests. The base and entrance are formed from dense foliage (oak, glod), thinner ones (alfalfa, lilac, rose) are selected for the walls, the bee fastens materials with its own saliva, which hardens when it comes into contact with air. This process usually occurs in July.
Having created a nest, the female leaf cutter begins to form cells for the larvae, twisting mini-cylinders from pieces of sheets. Then it fills them with pollen and nectar, lays the larva and seals the cell.
In autumn, the larva begins to feed on prepared food, in the spring it will fly out to create its nest, live until August and die.
Drones are the first to leave, for some time before the appearance of the females, they struggle among themselves so that only the strongest individuals with a healthy gene pool can mate.
In the natural habitat, the greatest danger to leaf cutter bees is cuckoo bumblebees, which lay their larvae in its nests.
What does a leaf cutter bee look like, how does she build a nest in the land of a flowerpot, and what benefits can be seen in the video clip:
How to determine the appearance in the garden?
It is difficult to confuse the appearance in the garden of the leaf cutter bee with something else, or the activity of another insect. Only this species leaves such even and neat holes in the leaves.
They especially like rose gardens - soft rose leaves are great for cells, and the flowers themselves contain the necessary nectar and pollen. Other plants will not ignore:
- lilac;
- acacia;
- grapes
- quince;
- alfalfa;
- clover;
- cherries.
Sometimes you can see an insect that flies into the hole in the fence, a hole in the bark of a tree or the ground. But in such minks live not only leafy cutter bees. Therefore, you will have to look at the appearance and occupation of the unexpected tenant.
Benefit or harm?
The only harm that a leaf cutter can do is the deprivation of decorative flowers grown for sale and aesthetic appeal.
But the damage caused by this insect is only external, and the plant itself does not harm. A bee squeezes the vessels of the leaf that it uses, so the flow of juices through the tissues does not stop. Damaged greens will not dry out, do not turn black or yellow, but simply grow further, acquiring a special “design”.
But the benefits of the sheet cutter are many. Therefore, it is even used in agriculture. Holes are specially drilled in wooden boards and bars, they make special beehives and add individuals to them.
This is done, for example, when growing alfalfa. This healing plant of the legume family is extremely difficult to pollinate, and the only ones who cope with it are leaf cutter bees. They increase alfalfa productivity to 800 kilograms per hectare.
Toilers are also planted when growing other legumes, they are also useful in gourds. Gardeners attract leaf cutters to their site to increase the number of fruit and vegetable ovaries.
Advantages of pollination by leaf-cutting bee:
- In 1 minute, one bee is able to visit, collect food and simultaneously pollinate 20-25 buds.
- For a day, the female makes about 700 sorties for provisions and is able to create conditions for the ovary of 2000 flowers.
- In search of food, one individual flies around a radius of 2 kilometers.
- It takes about 5 hours to prepare food for one larva. This means that theoretically she visits and pollinates about 18,000 flowers for this.
Leaf cutter bees are 2 times more efficient and faster pollinate plants than honey plants.
Do I have to fight?
Before engaging in the hatchery of leaf-cutting bees from their area, it is worth considering whether there is a great need for it:
- the species is small in number and benefits much more than harm;
- leaf damage lasts only 2-3 weeks, while the insect builds its nest;
- if the plant was being prepared for sale, damaged leaves can be carefully cut off;
- Separately, it should be mentioned the peacefulness of the insect - the leaf cutter never attacks a person and is not able to poison him, cause allergic edema, unlike honey bees.
Plant Protection Methods
If a gardener wants to maintain an attractive appearance of plant leaves, there are several ways to do this without harming the leaf cutter.
To do this, the leaves can:
- cover with a fine mesh (17 mesh) or gauze;
- dust with sifted wood ash, finely ground burning pepper, tobacco dust;
- process with soapy water.
The last two methods have their pros and cons. They scare away insects, and ash and tobacco will act as fertilizer. But the effect of such procedures will be reset to zero after the first rain.
You can save a rose if fed with potash fertilizers, - they will make the leaves stiff and unattractive to the bee. Nitrogen feeding, on the contrary, increases the number of vegetative parts of the plant and makes them more tender, which is necessary to create leaf cutter cells.
You can distract from the leaf cutter roses by planting other types of flowers or trees that are useful for the bee.
The use of chemical insecticides is not recommended for a number of reasons:
- the number of pollinated plants will decrease;
- in addition to leaf cutters, honey plants may die;
- you can deprive a plot of defenders from aphids - ladybugs and lacewings;
- targeted extermination of leaf cutter bees may be punishable by law.
To get a leaf-cutting bee out of the garden:
- Remove dead wood of reeds, reeds, thistles and thistles. Near them, or in the cavities of dry stems, leaf-cutting bees happily settle. Danger, in this sense, is also represented by dried or fallen trees.
- If it was possible to find the nest and it is quite accessible, then it must be carefully removed and taken away, or left alone, and next spring, when the young bees fly out, plug the hole.
Leaf cutter bee is a healthy and rare insect. It is able to process a huge number of plants, including difficultly pollinated ones. The harm that representatives of this species cause to flower beds is minimal. Noticing this bee on the site, it is better not to get rid of it. It can increase yields, especially if legumes are grown.
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