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The alkali bee, Nomia melanderi, is a ground-nesting bee native to and semi-arid desert basins of the western United States. It was described by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell in 1906. While solitary, these bees nest near each other and can form extremely dense aggregations in areas with favorable conditions.
This bee nests in salt-saturated, or , soil. Like some other bees such as Megachile rotundata, alkali bees are an effective pollinator of alfalfa. "... Nomia melanderi, sustainably managed to pollinate alfalfa ...", USDA The bee uses a specialized technique of opening alfalfa flowers for pollination by applying pressure to snap open the keel of the flower. Because of this and the fact that they prefer pollen to nectar, fly in a wide range of conditions, and perform well regardless of how well the field is watered, alkali bees are preferred to Honey bee for alfalfa pollination but have been increasingly supplanted by M. rotundata in recent years. Due to the unusual nesting habits of this bee, farmers have developed methods to accommodate them with salty mud-fields where they can burrow and lay their eggs. Farmers started doing this after realizing that plowing up natural flats like these decreased the yield of alfalfa dramatically. (A book review of Buzz by Thor Hanson.)
Juvenile hormone (JH) analog methoprene can serve as a possible limiting factor for alkali bees since female bees are more likely to reach reproductive maturity with JH. Alkali bees are also considered solitary bees because females have their individual nests and live alongside other female alkali bees.
This mite has been found in association with alkali bees but not with other species within the genus Nomia. The mites seem to oviposit in conjunction with emergence of fungi in cells (possibly Ascosphaera). The fungi are either within the bodies of unhealthy larvae, but more commonly are found in the feces of healthy larvae. The fungi causes the fecal pellets to be strung together in a characteristic manner. After oviposition, the eggs develop, hatch, mate, feed on the fungus, then leave on the bee when it emerges. One generation of I. apicola is reared per generation of bee, so southern populations of bee which can rear multiple generations in a season are more likely to a have a high presence of mites. Adult females seem to host far more mites than the males who seem to host relatively few, and they fall into cells during the provisioning stage where they carry out their life cycle, One study found that 60% of cells had mites, and the average mite count within these cells was 5.7. Although the mites can reach high densities, they don't appear to harm the bees which is possibly due to their fungivorous nature.
Cell creation usually begins the night after the main burrow is excavated. First, the "mine burrow" is dug and then a soil lining applied to the sides which reduces the size of the cell. Lastly a clear, lipid-rich secretion from the Dufour's gland (in the abdomen) is applied to the interior of the cell to waterproof it.
After the cell is constructed, the female bee begins the process of provisioning. She brings back pollen and mixes it with nectar to form a ball which is then placed in the bottom of the cell. Any debris that makes its way into the cell during this period is meticulously removed. Once the pollen ball is completed, oviposition occurs. This is usually in the late afternoon. The egg is laid on top of the pollen ball, then the female leaves the cell without inspecting it and begins to cap the cell. The egg garners no further attention after this unless it becomes diseased. In this case, the cell will be opened and packed with dirt by the female.
Three or four days after oviposition the egg hatches and the larva begins to consume the pollen ball. Once this has been consumed, the larva (now a prepupa) defecates and begins diapause. In the wild this process takes 11 to 12 days. In the southern region, eggs laid early in the season may emerge after this but for eggs later in the season or for those in the northern part of the range, the pupa will emerge as a bee in the following summer, cued by the warming soil temperatures.
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