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Habropoda laboriosa

Summary
Resource Type
Organism
Genus
Habropoda
Species
laboriosa
Common Name
NA
Description

Southeastern blueberry bee, Habropoda laboriosa

The southeastern blueberry bee (Habropoda laboriosa) is a solitary bee in the hymenopteran family Apidae. It is found throughout the eastern United States, where it is associated with a variety of host flowers [1]. It is an especially important pollinator of blueberries (Vaccinium sp.), and in some states is oligolectic on these hosts [2]. H. laboriosa uses buzz-pollination, similar to bumble bees (Bombus sp.) [2]. H. laboriosa females can visit more than 600 blueberry flowers to collect pollen for a single brood cell [3]. Over the course of a lifetime, a single H. laboriosa female may be responsible for more than 6,000 ripe blueberries [3].

Female blueberry bees nest either singly or in aggregations in deep, sandy soils. They dig long, vertical burrows that end in 1-3 cells [4]. Cells are provisioned with pollen and nectar and Dufour’s gland secretions [4]. H. laboriosa have a single generation of offspring per year[4]. Males emerge earlier than females and patrol nesting aggregations to find mating opportunities as virgin females emerge [4].

References cited

  1. Discover Life website (http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Habropoda+laboriosa#Hosts)
  2. Cane, J., Payne, J. A. 1988. Foraging ecology of the bee Habropoda laboriosa (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae), an oligolege of blueberries (Ericaceae: Vaccinium) in the southeastern United States. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 81:419-427.
  3. Cane, J.H. 1997. Lifetime monetary value of individual pollinators: the bee Habropoda laboriosa at rabbiteye blueberry (Vaccinium ashei reade). Acta Hortic, 446:67-70.
  4. Cane, J. 1994. Nesting biology and mating behavior of the southeastern blueberry bee, Habropoda laboriosa (Hymenoptera: Apoidea). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 67:236-241.
Organism Image
Habropoda laboriosa
Image Credit
By Jerry A. Payne [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Analysis
NameProgramDate Constructed
Habropoda laboriosa genome assembly Hlab v1.0 (ASM126327v1)SOAPdenovoDec 30th, 2015
Habropoda laboriosa ASM126327v1 GenBank AnnotationsunknownDec 30th, 2015
Functional annotation of NCBI Habropoda laboriosa Annotation Release 100AgBase functional annotation pipelineMar 11th, 2022
NCBI Habropoda laboriosa Annotation Release 100NCBI Eukaryotic Genome Annotation PipelineAug 26th, 2016
Assembly Stats
Contig N50
NA
Scaffold N50
1784116
GC Content
38.34
Other Information
Community Contact
  • Hailin Pan, BGI|panhailin@genomics.cn
  • Karen Kapheim|karen.kapheim@usu.edu
Links