Bees are often considered to be effective pollinators in both agricultural and natural ecosystems but could be ineffective pollinators in that they collect large quantities of pollen for food provision but deliver little to stigmas. Male bees do not collect pollen to feed larvae, and their pollination role has been underappreciated. Here we compare pollination effectiveness, visit frequency and pollen foraging behaviour between female and male individuals of a mining bee,Andrena emeishanica, visiting a nectariferous spring flower (Epimedium pubescens). Female bees were observed to forage for both pollen and nectar, but male bees foraged only for nectar. Female bees had large hairy hind tibiae with conspicuous scopae, and nearly 90% of the pollen grains they collected went onto the hind legs. Male bees removed less pollen from anthers than female bees but deposited more pollen on stigmas per visit. The higher pollen transfer efficiency of male bees was due to 48.4% of pollen grains remaining ungroomed on the thorax and abdomen, available for stigma contact, but their visitation rate to flowers was much lower. Our results indicate that male solitary bees could transfer more pollen on the stigmaper visitbut were less important (transferred less pollen in total, because they made fewer visits per unit time) than females.

A new wild nothospecies, Lycoris × xiui S.Y.Zhang, Ying F.Hu & J.W.Shao, from Anhui Province in eastern China, is described and illustrated based on complete chloroplast genome, morphological, and karyotype evidence. This taxon resulted from the hybridization of L. longituba and L. sprengeri and is currently known only from Langya Mountain. Phylogenetic analysis of the chloroplast genome revealed that L. sprengeri served as the maternal parent of all hybrid individuals sequenced. It is characterized by a karyotype of 2 n = 19 = 3V + 16I, a perigone tube typically 1.5–3.5 cm long, and flowers usually pink to pale pink (rarely white or pale yellow), with tepal apices sometimes pale blue. These characteristics differ markedly from those of both putative parents; therefore, this study formally names the taxon and provides a detailed morphological description and diagnosis.

To clarify the pollination contributions of introduced honey bees and native wild bees, we compared their pollination efficiency on a perennial herb, Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua. The flower’s traits and bees’ body traits were measured to quantify the mechanical fit between the bee species and flower. Pollen removal and deposition per visit, visit frequency, and visit duration per flower were investigated. The results show that both native bumble bees (worker bees of Bombus trifasciatus Smith) and introduced honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) are effective pollinators, but bumble bees play a more important role in pollination, due to their higher visit frequency and slightly higher pollen transfer efficiency. The bumble bees removed and deposited significantly more pollen grains per visit than the honey bees (both p < 0.001). The faster visiting speed and shorter visit duration of the bumble bees, combined with their larger body size and longer proboscises, may have contributed to their higher pollen transfer efficiency. The pollination success of P. cyrtonema depends on its pollinators. This study is the first to report on the pollination efficiency of floral visitors on P. cyrtonema. Our findings highlight the importance of conserving native bumble bee populations to ensure the reproductive success of P. cyrtonema. Future studies should focus on their management to minimize potential disruptions to native pollination contribution.