Female and male solitary bees usually differ in their behavioral and morphological attributes and consequently in their pollination effectiveness. The current study was carried out at the research farm of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan, to compare the foraging behavior and pollination efficiency of female and male Andrena savignyi Spinola, 1838 on Brassica campestris. The impact of different environmental factors (temperature, relative humidity, light intensity and wind speed) on foraging behavior was also studied. Andrena savignyi was the most abundant floral visitor of B. campestris and comprised 52.17% of the floral visitors. Female individuals fed on both nectar and pollen while male fed on nectar. Visitation frequency, visitation rate, pollen harvest and pollen deposition of females were significantly higher than that of males because of their larger size and more dry weight. The maximum abundance of females was recorded at 12:00 pm followed by a sharp decline until 4:00 pm whereas males attained their maximum abundance at 2:00 pm. The female pollinated flowers resulted in greater pod weight, pod length, number of seeds per pod, seed weight per pod and germination percentage than the males. Our results suggest that females of A. savignyi deliver better pollination of B. campestris than males in terms of its reproductivesuccess and germination percentage. Future studies should emphasis on exploring the biology and ecology of A. savignyi with special focus of its artificial nesting.

We report the nesting biology and ecology of Megachile cephalotes Smith, 1853 for the first time in Pakistan. Wooden and bamboo trap nests were deployed at three different locations in Bahawalpur district, Pakistan, from January 2020 to May 2021. A total of 242 nests of M. cephalotes were occupied in all three locations with the maximum abundance in the Cholistan Institute of Desert Studies. Megachile cephalotes remained active from March to September (the spring and summer seasons). In a nest, females made 7–8 brood cells each having a length of 1.2–2.3 cm. Plant resin was used to construct cells and mud or animal dung to plug the nest entrance. A vestibular cell was also made between the outermost brood cell and the nest entrance that ranged from 1.4 to 2.5 cm in length. No intercalary cells were observed in the nests. The males took 65.3 days to become adults, while the females took 74.78 days. The sex ratio was significantly biased toward females in all three locations. Grewia asiatica was the predominant pollen grain species found in the brood cells. Megachile cephalotes were observed collecting resin from Acacia nilotica, Prosopis juliflora, and Moringa oleifera. Three cleptoparasites of this species were also recorded: Euaspis carbonaria, Coelioxys sp., and Anthrax sp. This study set up a background to encourage new studies on artificial nesting and provides tools for proper biodiversity management and conservation.

To date, 26 species of the subfamily Nomiinae are known to occur in Pakistan. Among these, most of the species have been reported from the northern parts of Punjab, particularly the Pothwar region. In this study, sweat bees from the subfamily Nomiinae were collected from six districts of southern Punjab, Pakistan, to identify their taxonomic diversity. A total of nine species from four genera i.e., Austronomia Michener, 1965, Lipotriches Gerstaecker, 1858, Nomia Letreille, 1804, and Pseudapis Kirby, 1900 were identified. These species were Austronomia pilipes (Smith, 1875), Lipotriches (Armatriches) fervida (Smith, 1875), L. (Lipotriches) fulvinerva (Cameron, 1907), Nomia (Leuconomia) interstitialis Cameron, 1898, N. (Nomia) curvipes (Fabricius, 1793), N. (Hoplonomia) westwoodi (Gribodo, 1894), Pseudapis (Pseudapis) nilotica (Smith, 1875), P. (Pseudapis) oxybeloides (Smith, 1875), and P. (Nomiapis) bispinosa (Brulle, 1832). All the bee species except P. oxybeloides are reported for the first time from southern Punjab, Pakistan. A key to the genera of the subfamily Nomiinae, species, diagnoses, floral hosts, and distributions are provided. Moreover, habitus photographs and male genitalia illustrations are provided for each species except L. fervida and L. fulvinerva, as no male specimens were collected during the entire study period. This study will be helpful in the establishment of conservation strategies for native bees.

Insect pollinators contribute a major part in cross-pollination, few among them visit the sesame flowers that enhance the yield in terms of both qualitative and quantitative. The investigation took place at the oilseed research farm, National Agricultural Research Centre aiming to evaluate the pollinator profile of sesame and the impact of Apis mellifera on yield enhancement. Hymenopterans were the predominant floral visitors, constituting 90.81% of the total floral visitors, followed by the Dipterans and Coleopterans. Bees emerged as the most frequent floral visitors, with Bombus haemorrhoidalis being the most abundant at 27.16%, followed by A. dorsata (25.04%), A. mellifera (16.27%), and A. florea (9.34%). All the bee species started their activity before 09:00 am. Bombus haemorrhoidalis, A. dorsata, A. cerana, and A. mellifera attained their peak activity at 09:00 am whereas A. florea at 03:00 pm and Xylocopa fenestrata at 12:00 pm. The maximum number of pods with greater seed weight and yield was obtained in open-pollinated (41.53 pods/m2, 3.44 gm/1000 seeds, and 91.97 gm/m2 respectively) followed by A. mellifera and self-pollinated. This study concluded that honeybees especially A. mellifera play an important role in increasing the sesame yield. Further studies should focus on the impact of Apis and non-Apis bees on the reproductive success of sesame in terms of a single visit -as it is a tool for measuring the impact of pollinators on plant reproductive success- and the influence of climatic conditions like wind velocity, ambient temperature, light intensity, and relative humidity on the bee foraging activity.

Farmers are the ultimate beneficiaries of the ecosystem service of crop pollination, and their indigenous knowledge can be used to address the current challenges of pollinator decline. However, their perception and knowledge about pollinators is rarely investigated, particularly for orchard-based agroecosystems. This study aimed to assess the farmers’ knowledge and perception about pollinators and pollination in the mango agroecosystem. Also, statistical modelling identified the factors that affect the farmers’ knowledge. We interviewed 280 mango farmers from four districts (70 from each district) of South Punjab, Pakistan, to assess their knowledge about pollinators and pollination. Overall, 80% of respondents had no knowledge about pollination. Two native honeybee species, Apis dorsata and Apis florea, were well known among farmers, but only 13.57% of respondents showed some knowledge about non-bee pollinators. The results of the logistic regression model showed that farmers’ age (B = -0.051, SE = 0.017, p = .003), farming experience (B = 0.071, SE = 0.018, p = .000), primary education (B = 0.671, SE = 0.333, p = .044) and matric education (B = 0.830, SE = 0.398, p = .037) significantly impacted their knowledge about pollinators and pollination. The knowledge gap recognized in this study warrants the capacity building of farmers about the pollinators and their pollination services. By using indigenous and local knowledge, the conservation strategies for pollinators can be established in the region.