Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
BACKGROUND OF TflE INV:f3NTION
This invention rela~es to improvements and r~finements in
nests used for trapping, domestication, husbandry and mana~ement
of "Megachile Rotundata", commonly known as leaf cutter bees by
persons involved in growing Lucerne ~Alf Alfa" and like
Leguminosae pasture for seed, and by other practicing pollination
services using such bees, or the like, as pollinators.
It is an established fact that seed set is considerably
increased in the aforesaid crops by the introduction of Megachile
Rotundata bees for pollination when such crops are at a suitable
blooming stage. In addition, these bees are able to increase
their numbers from generation to generation.
Leaf cutter bees generally are solitary bees, but Megachile
Rotundata are known to be gregarious and are not averse to living
amongst their own kind with each female mating only once. She
alone constructs cigar~ e shaped cells inside blind tunnels, or
preexisting holes of a suitable bore within which the ova for
procreation are deposited. In this description, Megachile
Rotundata, for simplicity, will be referred to as leaf cutter
bees.
Research also indicates that by providing artificial or
manmade tunnels, leaf cutter bees can be kept within a selected
area to both pollinate and regenerate their kind during which
activity one cell, including the depositing of ova, .is completed
at least once per day, inside the blind tunnels commencing at the
furthest point from the opening and progressing along in sequence
to the front of said tunnels, such cells being oriented end-to-
end in a horizontal plane.
In order to recover the progeny and permit increasing bee
numbers, it is necessary to retrieve from such tunnels each and
every live cell, as well as to protect the livestock from
infestation by pathogens and attack by pests and predators during
nesting and during the active adult li~e cycle, which averages
six weeks per adult.
Lea cutter bees are entirely different biologically,
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physically and actively from the ~amiliar honey bees r,~hich
originate from a single fertilized queen whose progeny swarm and
live in a hive, manufacturing from their own glands wax and honey
from which they sustain their own kind and from which both
products are recovered by the owner of such hive or hives.
Honey bees, "Apis mellifera~', are e~uipped with substantial
stingers and at times tend to aggressivenes.s, but the leaf cutter
bee has no effective stingers and therefore no defense against
predators or pests. They do not produce honey or wax.
The purpose of tAis invention is to provide a suitable
num~er of tunnels within the minimum possible space. Since the
discovery of man's ability to trap and domesticate along with
managing this bee, a wide variety of artificial forms of nesting
tunnels have been conceived. Approaches lnclude:
drilled wooden blocks with backing sheets, grooved boards which
have been either bolted or clamped together to form blind
tunnels, extruded tunnels in polystyrene-type materials, and also
like materials with half-circle grooves again clamped together.
All of the aforesaid materials present problems for
retrieval of the progeny. In addition, there is the problem of
the considerable area required to provide, say five thousand,
tunnels from solid materials. All of the heretofore approaches
were costly to produce and supply to owners of bees.
In addition to the high cost and the design problems of
tunnels, users were and are currently compelled to remove and
recover the young manually or by additional machinery or
equipment, and thence attempt to sterili~e such nest materials to
prevent residual pathogens from infesting next generation bees.
It has been proven from research and practice that such
action is costly and inherently ineffective.
A completely waxed paper conglomerate of blind tunnels was
developed in 1979, which development is the subject of Australian
Patent No. 541,427, the named Inventor in which is Frederick
Arthur Norman. It has been ound and ascertained from further
research that the nest is not effective and presents added
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restriction on recovery of the young as well as yenerating high
temperatures in the solid materials because of the inability of
air to reach and circulate around cells contained in the tunnels.
This is the case because wa~ed tunnels do not permit natural
moisture in leaf-clipping-formed cells to be absorbed by the
tunnel material.
SUMMARY OF ~HE INVENTION
It is a purpose o~ this invention and an improvement to
earlier known leaf cutter bees' nests to provide a light,
effective, low cost group of blind tunnels which comprise say
five thousand such tunnels parallel with one another,
concentrated in the least possible area, with an acceptable
internal diameter to suit the biology of the bee and its
activities within said tunnel whilst building c811s from leaf
clippings therein.
Broadly stated, the invention is a nest for Megachile
Rotundata being a corrugated packing board tray formed by a base
with all ~our sides upstanding defining an open internal space
having a visible face upon which is placed a water or liquid
resistant adhesive o~ such quality and quantity that when a
plurality of open ended paper tubes are placed in the vertical
plane thereon to tightly pack the space encompassed by sides,
blind tunnels are formed and secured in situ by g~ass like hard
non-soluble barrier when set.
~ nother broad aspect of the invention is a method of
managing Megachile Rotundata comprising the steps of:
configuring a nest of a plurality of paper tubes
arranged in an array of blind tunnels wherein each
is readily openable upon being soaked in water,
each tunnel providing a cell in which the progeny
o~ the Megachile Rotundata are contained;
harvesting the progeny by soaking the nest in a
bath of water to open the individual cells so as
to release the progeny therefrom and floating the
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progeny on the surface of the bath so that the
progeny can be collected for 3ubsequent nestiny;
drying the nest after ~oaking, and destroyirlg the
nest -to destroy any disease existiny therein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Embodiments of the nest are described in relation to the
accompanying drawings from which it will be seen that all
requirements are met which are necessary to protect leaf cutter
bee cells within a structure, or conglomerate, of tunnels
conforming as closely as possible to the natural habitat of the
bees in a feral or wild state.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the nest.
Figure 2 is a front view of tunnels in the nest.
Figure 3 is a view of tunnels formed by adherence to the
-rear of a box in axis parallel.
Figure 4 is a view of a bee within a tunnel building a cell.
Figure 5 is a view of a first type of tunnel on release.
Figure 6 is a view of a second type of tunnel on release.
Figure 7 is a view of Yarious identification patterns.
Flgure 8 is a side view of a portion of the nest showing the
tubes adhered to a rear wall of the nest.
DE~AIL D D~SCRIPTION
It has heen established from research that greater control
of bee morality along with improved health of livestock can be
attained by practicing loose-aell storage during the diapause
- period and that the destruction by burning of all previously used
nesting materials destroys any pathogens or fungi which may have
been present at collection of young.
It has also been established from research that in order to
reduce compost action by leaf clippings forming the cells, it is
essential for as much air as is possible to circulate around
blind tunnels 11 in a nest 10 with a material used being able to
absorb air and dis9ipate moi9ture rapidly. Hence the structure
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or collection of tunnels 11 in situ Figure 2 with spaces 12
between the tunnels is used.
Recent tests by the inventor have indicated that the tunnels
11 should be configured as paper tubes of a preferred paper
material with an inside bore 13 to suit a nesting bee.
This arrangement provides the required rate of moisture
absorption and heat dissipation from leaf clippings over a given
period during nesting activities of leaf cutter bees as depicted
in Figure 4.
The aforesaid paper tubes 11 also have ideal ambient thermal
properties when grouped within a given space. In accordance with
a suggested embodiment, five thousand tubes are mounted in an
area of 270 square centimeters contained within a corrugated
packing board tray which has a base with four sides upstanding in
a manner to constrain all tunnels within the perimeter. In order
to permit release of the tubes, such fixing is designed to allow
access to the base of the tray after the tunnels have been used
and filled with cells of leaf cutter bees, as is correlated -to
Figures l and 3.
When laying down their progeny~ leaf cutter bees need
protection from pests and predators. All facets of the nest
herein described can be physically protected, except the front
opening giving access to the bees which, however, can be readily
viewed by the owner. The activity of bees discourages entry from
that area. Thus it will be seen that the rear and sides of said
nests are vulnsrable to intrusion by predators and pests. Hence
it becomes essential to present an impregnable barrier (14 Figure
~) to such end of the tubes forming the blind tunnels to
discourage predators which seek to consume the laid contents of
the cells within the tunnels 11.
~ he aforesaid barrier can be achieved by af~ixing the tubes
11 to the rear wall of nest 10, as is shown in Figure 8, by
applying a suitable adhesive which will then retain the tubes,
now blind tunnels, and which when set has a glass-like surface
and is completely insoluble when wet and/or immersed in water or
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such like liquid. Pigure 3 indicates ~he use o~ such material.
The sides of the nest ga:Ln protection by being suitably sited
within a preferred area i.n the ~ield.
Referring now to Figures 5 and 6, the tubes or tunnels 11
can be made in several ways. One method is by extrusion crimping
and sealing the edges of a strip of paper with an adhesive which
is water-soluble. Such an extrusion should be made from a
particular weight of paper. A ~urther method of manufacture is
to spirally laminate another particular weight of paper to give
an identical weight of paper to that which is extruded. The
spirally laminated paper is again sealed using an adhesive of
quick-drying capacity, but highly water-soluble. In Figure 5A, a
closed spiral seam 15 is shown before soaking. During soaking of
the nest 10, the seam 15 opens up as is shown in Figure 5B.
Figure 6A shows a tube 11 with a closed straight seam 16. Upon
soaking the nest 10, the straight seam 16 opens, as is shown in
Figure 6B.
The production of the aforesaid materials into nests for use
in pollination of crop, regeneration and retrieval of progeny is
achieved by using suitably devised packing methods to secure
tubes 11 firmly within the bounds of the tray base when the
upstanding sides are locked in position.
When placing the aforesaid within suitable or preferred
shelter in the field or area to be pollinated, it is advantageous
and o~ assistance to bees, which it has been established can
recognize colors and geometric forms, to have such ~orms and
recognised colors stencilled over the face of the nests 10. This
aids bees in orienting themselves to their selected tunnels on
return to the nest. A typical stencil 17 with geometric patterns
18 is shown in Figure 7.
It will therefore be seen form the foregoing that a light,
durable nest 10, when suitably sited in accord with management
techniques now being practiced, can ~e made available at low cost
to bee owners and operators. The ~ollowing method of collection
and fumigation or sterilization from disease, simultaneously,
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presents immense cost savings and advantages.
To collect or harvest the progeny con-tained within blind
tunnels, the nest or nests are removed from shelters or
protection in the field and are taken to a preferred site at
which a suitable container of water, to which is added a selected
fumigant or sterilizing agent, is provided.
The owner or operator of bees and nests merely releases a
lock on each corner of the upstanding sides of the nest 10,
lowers the nest while oriented in a level plane, and, with the
back uppermost, immerses the nest face down in the water which
then permits the adhesive holding the tubes in circular form to
release. The blind end 14 of the nest lO is affixed to the back
of the tray. The tunnels 11 wi-ll then unravel and release
progeny contained therein which progeny float on the water. Any
pests, predators or cadavers will sink or drown. Figures 5B and
6B both depict conditions of tunnels after immersion.
All live cells can then be collected, dried and stored in
suitable containers within a cool storage area for hibernation,
whilst the residual nesting material is placed aside to dry,
ready for burning.
While it will be seen that considerable detail and
description of the nests along with husbandry practices is
described herein, it is to be realized variations aan be made in
materials used and methods of assembly, and these variations are
intended to be considered within the scope of the present
invention.
