ISSN 2816-6531

Bumble bees (Apidae: Bombus) and hover flies (Syrphidae) from the summits of the Gaspésie National Park, Québec

André-Philippe  
Drapeau Picard  
authors orcid
Ludovic  
Jolicoeur  
Kevin  
Gauthier  
Kathryn E.  
Powell  
authors orcid
Marc  
Bélisle  
authors orcid
Jade  
Savage  
authors orcid
Marjolaine  
Giroux  
authors orcid
Maxim  
Larrivée  
authors orcid
Tags: Apidae, Arthropoda, Bombus, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Quebec, Syrphidae
Number 6, 
29 January 2025

Description

Bumble bees and hover flies were collected on summits of the Gaspésie National Park (Quebec, Canada) using pan traps. The first collection was conducted by L. Jolicoeur between June 16 and July 25, 2008. Six sampling events took place on 11 summits that year. For each sampling event, five yellow pan traps were placed 20 m apart from each other, forming an “X” (details in Jolicoeur 2012). Subsequent collections were conducted by K. Gauthier on four summits in 2020 and 2021. Sampling occurred four times per summit between June 15 and August 15, using 30 pan traps (10 blue, 10 white and 10 yellow) displayed 5 m apart from each other in a linear transect.

We provide collection data for bumble bees (Apidae: Bombus spp.) collected in all years, and hover flies (Syrphidae) collected in 2020 and 2021. We report species rarely collected, including Sphegina brachygaster Hull 1935 (Fig. 1).

Material

Two-hundred and fifty-seven specimens of bumble bees and 42 hover flies were collected, representing six and 12 species, respectively. Bumble bees were identified using keys and species descriptions in Williams et al. (2014). Hover flies were identified using Miranda et al. (2013), Skevington et al. (2019) and Telford (1970). Some specimens were sent to the Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding to confirm identification using COI-5P sequences. Barcoding results are available in supplementary documents. Specimens were deposited in the Montreal Insectarium collection (IMQC). Specimen metadata are available at https://data.canadensys.net/micropublications/resource?r=collection_6.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Gaspésie National Park crew, and especially to Claude Isabel, for their logistical support and to Jean-Francois Jetté and Anaïs Carbonneau for their help in the field. Fieldwork was conducted under the permits PNG -20 06 08 01 and PNG -21 06 09 01.

References

1.

Hull FM. 1935. Descriptions of new species of the genus Sphegina with a key to those known from North America (Syrphidae: Diptera). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 61: 373-382, 1 pl. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25077359

2.

Jolicoeur L. 2012. Effets de la structure du paysage sur la composition de la communauté toundrique de diptères des monts McGerrigle (Gaspésie, Québec): une approche distinguant les espèces allochtones et résidentes. MSc thesis. Université de Sherbrooke, Canada. 109 pp. http://hdl.handle.net/11143/5772

3.

Miranda GFG, Young AD, Locke MM, Marshall SA, Skevington JH, Thompson. 2013. Key to the genera of Nearctic Syrphidae. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification No. 23. https://doi.org/10.3752/cjai.2013.23

4.

Skevington JH, Locke MM, Young AD, Moran K, Crins WJ, Marshall SA. 2019. Field Guide to the Flower Flies of Northeastern North America. Princeton University Press. 511 pp. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691192512

5.

Telford HS. 1970. Eristalis (Diptera: Syrphidae) from America north of Mexico. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 63(5): 1201-1210. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/63.5.1201

6.

Williams P, Thorp R, Richardson L, Colla S. 2014. Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide. Princeton University Press. 208 pp.

Figures

figure1
Fig. 1. Sphegina brachygaster Hull, dorsal view, IMQC21122.