Wild Bee Biocoenotics in São Jose dos Pinhais (PR), South Brazil.：Preliminary Report (With 3 Text-figures and 7 Tables)

Abstract

These dates are henceforth abbreviated IIIe, IIIm lIIl (early, middle and late March), etc.We tried to keep the interval between two sampling dates, if possible, longer than 6 days and shorter than 12 days, though this was often impossible.The interval was too short in VIIl-VlIIe, and XI-XIe, while too long in VI-VIe.The final sampling, Ill, could not be undertaken within February but was made on March 3. Furthermore, the regular procedure was not fulfilled in the following cases: 1) In IIe and XIII, a total of 4 hours sampling was made on two days, not within one and the same day.2\ Sampling was made only 1 hour in VIe, VIIm, only 2 hours in VIle, due to cold weather, and only 2 hours in Xl due to rain (cf.Fig. 1,A)Before and after each hourly sampling, air temperature was measured by a shaded thermometer hung at ca. 1.2 m above ground.Intensity of insolation, cloud amount and wind classes were estimated by eye.The sampling technique is the same as that adopted by one of us in 1959 (SFS, cf.Sakagami & Matsumura, 1967).At each hourly sampling, any wild bees on any kinds of flowers or in flight were captured at random, without choice.Each bee was captured by net individually or in groups when discovered, that is, not by means of random sweeping on flowers.The captured individuals were separately preserved according to the flower species visited.(Therefore, we used to bring as many killing tubes as the approximate number of flower species found at the time.).Care was taken to walk about approximately 1/4-1/3 of the area studied within each one hour's sampling, thus covering the whole area during one day's sampling of 4 hours.For this purpose, prolonged stay at one particular spot was avoided.For instance, when one flower species was in full bloom in a restricted area, attracting a large number of bees, we captured as many specimens * * I 17