A Specialist in an Urban Area: Are Cities Suitable to Harbour Populations of the Oligolectic Bee Centris (Melacentris) collaris (Apidae: Centridini)?

Although bees have been demonstrated to be abundant and species-rich in cities, several studies pointed out that oligolectic species are scarce in those urban landscapes. Oligolectic species are those whose females collect pollen from a few closely related plant species or from some species belonging to the same or related plant families. We studied three nest aggregations of the oligolectic bee Centris collaris (Apidae) in an urban area. Nest aggregations were found underneath building ramps at a university campus within the city of Uberlândia, southeastern Brazil. Females were observed in nesting activity from April to May 2016. The analysis of satellite images of a 2.57-km2 area revealed that only 0.15% was suitable for nesting sites, i.e. areas of exposed soils. Seventeen plant species were identified as floral sources of C. collaris through the pollen analysis of 43 females' scopae. The interaction analysis produced a highly specialized network (C = 0.314, H2′ = 0.744). The numbers of interactions of...