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Establishment of Bombus spp. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Artificial Domiciles in Southern Alberta1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

G. A. Hobbs ,
J. F. Virostek  and
W. O. Nummi
G. A. Hobbs
Affiliation:
Research Station, Canada Department of Agriculture, Lethbridge, Alberta
J. F. Virostek
Affiliation:
Research Station, Canada Department of Agriculture, Lethbridge, Alberta
W. O. Nummi
Affiliation:
Research Station, Canada Department of Agriculture, Lethbridge, Alberta
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Extract

Since Fye and Medler (1954) described methods of obtaining establishment of bumble bee queens in artificial domiciles in Wisconsin, we have been obtaining colonies for pollination and food-preference studies by similar means. The following is a summary of our experiences with the Fye-Medler type of above-ground domicile. Most of the trials were conducted in the prairie region of southern Alberta with grassland species of bumble bees; one was conducted in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in southern Alberta, where species peculiar to treed areas are common. Because bumble bee queens make their nests in deserted mice nests, domiciles with entrance holes 1 ¼ inches in diameter were partly filled with roughed-up flax straw and set out in the fall to first provide homes for mice. The following spring, the mice were expelled and mice-excluders (thin metal plates 2 inches square, with holes 5/8 inch in diameter) were nailed over the original holes (cf. Fye and Medler, 1954).

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 92 , Issue 11 , November 1960 , pp. 868 - 872
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1960

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References

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