A Comparative Study on Nest Architecture And Lifecycle of Two Small Carpenter Bees Ceratina Smaragdula (F.) and Ceratina Hieroglyphica Smith

Small carpenter bees Ceratina smaragdula (F.) and C. hieroglyphica Smith (Xylocopinae: Apidae) are the major pollinators of many agricultural and horticultural crops. Nesting sites of these native bee pollinators were located at dried twigs of peacock flower tree Caesalpinia pulcherrima, and a total of 199 nests were collected from 2019-2021. Both species constructed linear nests at soft pithy region of stems with a maximum of 12 cm depth and individual cells ranged 6 to 10 mm in length which were separated with partitions of 2 to 4 mm. There were no significant differences in height of the nests constructed from ground level. The younger cells were near to the entrance, whereas the mature cells were arranged towards the innermost side. The nests of bees consisted of egg, larva, pupa and adult stages; and C. smaragdula took 15.51± 0.19 days while C. hieroglyphica took 15.93± 0.27 days for completion of larval period. Total pupal period of C. smaragdula ranged from 20.71± 0.26 days whereas C. hieroglyphica ranged from 18.56± 0.16 days. Total lifecycle for C. smaragdula and C. hieroglyphica took 49.15± 0.40 and 43.19± 0.58 days under laboratory conditions.