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Member Symposium

Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

Biology and Conservation of Solitary, Ground-nesting Bees

Chasing a little-known fairy bee (Perdita meconis) in a dynamic desert landscape

Sunday, November 10, 2024
1:35 PM – 1:47 PM MST
Location: Phoenix Convention Center, 130
Oral Presentation
The Mojave Poppy Bee, Perdita meconis, a rare bee of the eastern Mojave Desert, is the object of a current assessment as a threatened species. It demonstrates the challenges faced in determining current distributions and life history traits of small, specialist, solitary desert bees. Perdita meconis is a specialist on Bear poppies (Arctomecon), that are themselves either listed or the subject of listing, and annual, or short-lived perennial, prickly poppies (Argemone). Described originally from southwestern Utah, P. meconis appears now to be extinct in that portion of its range. The relationship of P. meconis with its floral hosts is complex and dynamic; evidence suggests this bee can remain in diapause for at least three years. A principal floral host, the Las Vegas Bear Poppy (Arctomecon californica), a short-lived perennial, exists as spatially asynchronous cohorts that wink in and out on discontinuous patches of gypsiferous soil.