I am masters student who is carrying out a study on how effective Bee Banks and Artifical Bee Boxes are for the conservation of solitary bees in Sandwell Valley. So far I have put up 7 Bee boxes around an RSPB site , all of which have been colonised by leaf cutters. I have seen Megachile Willughbiella , Megachile Versicolor and possibly Megachile Centucularis provisioning leaf cuttings into different holes. Overall , I have seen atleast 54 holes with clear evidence of occupation across all 7 boxes, does anyone know how many eggs/ grubs one leaf cutter provisions in one hole? Does the number of eggs laid differ with each sub species and with changing enviromental conditions?
I would greatly appreicate anyones knoweldge on this subject as it will allow me to estimate population sizes within the boxes
The depth of the tube that is used will constrain the number of individual cells made in any one tube. I don't have a definitive answer, but, of the tubes I have opened up, each has contained 6-8 cells. Longer tubes may well have facilitated more cells of course.