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Around thirty species of European solitary bee species in the family   Megachilidae   nest in empty gastropod shells. We surveyed this group of bees in semi-natural sites adjacent to almond orchards near Lleida (north-eastern Spain) and collected 35    Hoplitis   fertoni    and 58    Osmia   ferruginea    nests in shells of six snail species. We describe the nest structure and report the identity of pollens collected by the two bee species. Both species adjust the number of brood cells to the size of the shell and occasionally build intercalary (empty) cells.    H.   fertoni    uses clay and    O.   ferruginea    chewed plant leaves for building cell partitions and nest plugs. Most nests of both species were built in    Sphincterochila   candidissima    shells. Analysis of the pollen of selected nests confirmed that    H.   fertoni    is oligolectic on   Boraginaceae   (in our study all pollen was from    Lithodora   fruticosa   ) and    O.   ferruginea    is a polylectic species (collecting mostly pollen from   Cistaceae  ,   Fabaceae  , and   Lamiaceae   in our study area). Nests of    H.   fertoni    were parasitized by five species, the golden wasp    Chrysura   hybrida   , the cuckoo bee    Dioxys   moesta   , the velvet ants    Stenomutilla   collaris    and    Stenomutilla   hotentotta   , and the bee-fly    Anthrax   aethiops   ; nests of    O.   ferruginea    were parasitized by the sapygid wasp    Sapyga   quinquepunctata    and    A.   aethiops   . Except for    C.   hybrida    these are newly recorded host-parasite associations. Our results confirm previous information and bring new findings on the ecology of both species.

journal of hymenoptera research

Nest structure, pollen utilization and parasites associated with two west-Mediterranean bees (  Hymenoptera  ,   Apiformes  ,   Megachilidae  ) nesting in empty snail shells