Miner bees: Perdita crassihirta
(Hymenoptera: [Apoidea:] Andrenidae: Panurginae: Perditini)
Profile prepared by Matthew Shepherd, The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Perdita crassihirta is a rare endemic species with a restricted distribution and uncertain population status. It has been collected only once, at Wenatchee in Chelan County, WA, in an agricultural landscape. Its flight period is August and it is likely dependent on flowers in the family Compositae.
Xerces Red List Status: Vulnerable
Other Rankings:
Canada – Species at Risk Act: N/A
Canada – provincial status: N/A
Mexico: N/A
USA – Endangered Species Act: N/A
USA – state status: N/A
NatureServe: N/A
IUCN Red List: N/A
A rare endemic species with a restricted distribution and uncertain population status.
Perdita (Perdita) crassihirta Timberlake, 1968.
The flight period of Perdita crassihirta is August (Tepedino and Griswold, 1995). Like all members of the tribe Perditini, P. crassihirta nests in the ground. (Perdita nests differ from the majority of andrenid nests in that the cells are unlined or only partially lined.) Nearly all species of the tribe Perditini are specialist foragers. P. crassihirta is likely dependent on flowers in the family Compositae. It has been recorded in one habitat type within the Columbia Basin, Agricultural.
Perdita crassihirta has been collected only once, at Wenatchee in Chelan County, WA.
The threats to this species are currently unknown. A conservation need for this species is to ensure that suitable (unknown) flowering plants persist and that appropriate nesting substrate remains. Little is known of the biology of this species. Studies of both the nesting and foraging habits would be valuable.
Michener, C.D. 2000. The Bees of the World. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Tepedino, V.J., and T.L. Griswold. 1995. The bees of the Columbia Basin. Final report, USDA Forest Service, Portland, OR. 212 pp (Technical Report)
Timberlake, P.H. 1968. A revisional study of the bees of the genus Perdita F. Smith, with special reference to the fauna of the Pacific coast, Part VII (including index to parts I to VII). University of California Publications in Entomology 49: 1-196
Los Angeles County Museum; holotype record, available online (Accessed 9/22/08.)
Shepherd, M. D. 2005. Species Profile: Perdita crassihirta. In Shepherd, M. D., D. M. Vaughan, and S. H. Black (Eds). Red List of Pollinator Insects of North America. CD-ROM Version 1 (May 2005). Portland, OR: The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.