Rhode Island NWR Complex

All:

This is a summary of data from 8 fields from the Rhode Island NWR Complex during late August 2008.

A complete table of the data is available from Leo Shapiro (lshapiro@umd.edu), Sam Droege (sdroege@usgs.gov), or the refuge biologist.

Below is a table of the site numbers and the brief site description.

Site	Description
5558	RINWRC Site 1;Ninigret NWR
5559	RINWRC Site 2;Ninigret NWR
5560	RINWRC Site 3;Ninigret NWR
5561	RINWRC Site 4;Ninigret NWR
5562	RINWRC Site 5;Trustom Pond NWR
5563	RINWRC Site 6;Trustom Pond NWR
5564	RINWRC Site 7;Trustom Pond NWR
5565	RINWRC Site 8;Trustom Pond NWR

Below is a table of the results by site:

Species	5558	5559	5560	5561	5562	5563	5564	5565	Grand Total
Agapostemon texanus	1	1							2
Agapostemon virescens		3		2	11	9	7	1	33
Andrena brevipalpis	1								1
Anthidium manicatum					2				2
Apis mellifera					1			1	2
Augochlorella aurata		1	1		1		2	4	9
Augochloropsis metallica								1	1
Bombus impatiens						1			1
Ceratina calcarata			1				1	3	5
Ceratina calcarata/dupla		1							1
Ceratina dupla	3	1	1	1	1	2	1	2	12
Coelioxys sayi								1	1
Colletes americanus							1		1
Halictus confusus					1				1
Halictus ligatus	6	12	1	6	1	1	1	1	29
Hylaeus affinis/modestus	1				3	1	1	3	9
Lasioglossum anomalum								1	1
Lasioglossum cressonii							2		2
Lasioglossum ellisiae	11	10	7	10	1				39
Lasioglossum imitatum		1							1
Lasioglossum nymphaearum						1		1	2
Lasioglossum pectorale		1					1		2
Lasioglossum pilosum	14	5	2	7	1		1	1	31
Lasioglossum rohweri	2	9	1		12	2	11	1	38
Lasioglossum sp.					1	2	2		5
Megachile brevis					1			1	2
Megachile latimanus						1			1
Megachile montivaga						1			1
Melissodes bimaculata		1							1
Sphecodes atlantis	1			2					3
Sphecodes davisii								1	1
Sphecodes dichrous					1				1
Grand Total	40	46	14	28	38	21	31	23	241

Interpretation of the results: Excellent number of bees and diversity in these fields! 30 species, 241 specimens, which comes to about 2 bees on average per bowl. First let's note a set of new state records for Rhode Island based on the list maintained by John Ascher at the American Museum: Augochloropsis metallica, Lasioglossum anomalum, Anthidium manicatum, Megachile montivaga, and Coelioxys sayi. Now before the refuge's head gets too swollen, the list of bees for the Rhode Island is low and all these species have been found in neighboring states, but on the other hand it shows the type of contribution that can be made in light of a general lack of understanding of bees....so good work!

Anthidium manicatum is an interesting new arrival to the U.S. Here's the current distribution (and a few West Coast records that are not shown). Moving north and west it will likely soon cover the region. It is particularly fond of nice gardens that have Stachys, which it uses to line its nests.

Anthidium manicatum by imarsman from creative commons

Lasioglossum ellisiae would have been called L. tegulare in the recent past, but there is a paper in review that splits these two apart. The Lasioglossum sp. are all males that at this point I can't identify to species. There are an interesting number of nest parasites in this group of bees (these are bees that lay their eggs in the nests of other bee species rather than providing for their young themselves). The 3 Sphecodes are parasites of Lasioglossum species and the Coelioxys sayi is a parasite of Megachile bees.

Ninigret fields have many more H. ligatus, L. ellisiae, and L. pilosum than Trustom pond, which is more characterized by higher numbers of Agapostemon virescens and Hylaeus. Based on the species list it looks like the Ninigret fields are more open and potentially sandy, but they don't have any of the species that are characteristic of deep sand. The species diversity at Ninigret is much lower at 15 species to Trustom's 26. Again, a nice set of bees for this refuge complex.

Sam and Leo

Bee Song



Bees in the late summer sun

Drone their song

Of yellow moons

Trimming black velvet

Droning, droning a sleepysong.




- Carl Sandburg

Site 5565

Site 5564

Site 5563

Site 5562

Site 5561

Site 5560

Site 5559

Site 5558