Diversity and abundance of wild bees (Hymenoptera: Apoïdea) foraging the flowers of Hedysarum flexuosum: Insight through three successive follow-up seasons in Tizi-Ouzou (Algeria)

Abstract

Monitoring of wild bees foraging on H. flexuosum is carried out in Tizi-Ouzou region (northern Algeria), over three consecutive seasons (2017, 2018 and 2019). The inventory reveals the presence of a good diversity of bee species, with 30 wild bee species divided into four families, including 15 species of Apidae, 12 Megachilidae, two Andrenidae and one Halictidae. The two most dominant species during the three years of study belong to the genus Eucera namely Eucera numida and Eucera punctatissima which are long tongue bees. Shannon-Weaver’s diversity index is high in 2019, intermediate in 2017, and relatively low in 2018 with 4.1; 3.5 and 2.5 bits respectively.