Occurrence of Bees and Bumblebees in Bark Beetle Slit Traps from Spruce and Fir Woodlands of Central Dinaric Alps

Abstract

The paper analysed bees by-catch collected in 259 bark beetle slit traps, from eleven localities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sampling was carried out in spruce and fir forests in 2020 and 2021. As a by-catch from bark beetle slit traps 84 bee individuals from four families and 13 genera were collected. In the bark beetle slit traps sample, out of 29 bee taxa, 22 species were identified at the species level and eight specimens were left at the genus/subgenus level. The most dominant genera were Megachile with 34 specimens and Osmia represented by 20 specimens in the total sample. The research identified 14 bee species new to the fauna of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The bee species collected in the bark beetle slit-traps were dominated by nesters in cavities, above the ground-nesting bees.

Keywords

• conservation
• pollinators
• by-catch
• forest
• management