xylocopa Fahim

78% of the angiosperm species in temperate-zone regions to 94% in tropical areas depend on animals for their pollination. Total number of animal pollinated is 308006 that are 87.5% of the estimated species-level diversity of flowering plants.(Ollerton ,Winfree and Tarrant, 2011). Fruit, vegetable or seed production from 87 of the 115 leading global food crops depends upon animal pollination (Klein, Vaissiere. Cane, et al, 2007). Bees are the most important amonganimal pollinators contributing 80% of the total insect pollination (Robinson and Morse, 1989).Honey bees belong to genus Apis, which is a small group have only 7 species(Michener, 2006). Throughout the world farmers rely on managed honey bees for pollination of no doubt they have a large contribution for this services. But honey bees are not always the most efficient pollinators of all the crops(S. S. Greenleaf and C. Kremen, 2006).The rest of the more than 17000bee species(Michener, 2006) are also there to be worked on. So wild and domesticated non-Apisbeesand other inscet pollinators cancontribute a lot in pollination of many cropsbesides honey bees(P. Hoehn, T. Tscharntke, J. M. Tylianakis, and I. Steffan- Dewenter, 2008)(S. S. Greenleaf and C. Kremen, 2006). Conservation and promoting environment for them can help us in gaining more fruit and seeds from our flowering plants.The foremost step for this purpose is to know what are the species of insect pollinators in our own regions. This study was also to know what are the species of large carpenter bees (Xylocopa spp.) present in Punjab.

            As the name indicates the large carpenter bees dig their nests indead or decaying wood, except the members of sub genus Proxylocopathat nest in the soil. Till now 469 species of large carpenter bees are known (Michener, 2006) recently all of themare grouped in a single genus Xylocopa (K. Hogendoorn, C. L. Gross, M. Sedgley, and M. A. Keller, 2006).The genus comprises on 31 sub genera (Michener, 2006)and at least 3 clades (R. Leys, S. J. B. Cooper, and M. P. Schwarz 2002). The genus has been placed in separate families by different authors, the Ceratinidae and the Xylocopidae. More recently the genus has been placed in Xylocopini tribe of the subfamily Xylocopinae in the family Apidae (Michener 1944).

            In a study X.pubescenspollinationincreased melon fruit set in green house threefold as compared to honeybee pollination.(A. Sadeh, A. Shmida, T. Keasar,2007)In a work by (B. A. Mensah and A.A. Kudom, 2011)X. olivacea was proved more efficient than A. mellifera in terms of number of fruit set per single visiton Luffaaegyptiaca.

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References

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 A.-M. Klein, B. E. Vaissi`ere, J. H. Cane, et al., “Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops,”

Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 274, no. 1608, pp. 303– 313, 2007.

 K. Hogendoorn, C. L. Gross, M. Sedgley, and M. A. Keller, “Increased tomato yield through pollination by native Australian

Amegillachlorocyanea(Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae),” Journal of Economic Entomology, vol. 99, no. 3, pp. 828–

833, 2006.

Michener, C. D. 2006. The bees of the world. 2^nd edition, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp 73

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bees, genus Xylocopa(Hymenoptera: Apidae),” Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 77, no. 2, pp. 249–266, 2002.

Michener, Charles D.1944. Comparative external morphology, phylogeny, and a classification of the bees (Hymenoptera). Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 82(6):151-326, fig. 1-246, diagr.1-13.pp. 288

P. Hoehn, T. Tscharntke, J. M. Tylianakis, and I. Steffan- Dewenter, “Functional group diversity of bee pollinators increases crop yield,” Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 275, no. 1648, pp. 2283–2291, 2008.

A. Sadeh, A. Shmida, T. Keasar,2007, 

The Carpenter Bee Xylocopapubescensas an Agricultural

Pollinator in Greenhouses.Apidologie 38 (2007) 508–517 p. 514

B. A. Mensah and A.A. Kudom, 2011.Foraging Dynamics And Pollination Efficiency Of ApisMelliferaAnd XylocopaOlivaceaOn LuffaAegyptiacaMill (Cucurbitaceae) In Southern Ghana.Journal of Pollination Ecology, 4(5), 2011, pp 34-38

Robinson, W.E., and R.A. Morse. 1989. The value of honeybees as pollinators of US crops. American Bee

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