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Utah State University

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2015

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The Floral Hosts And Distribution Of A Supposed Creosote Bush Specialist, Colletes Stehpeni Timberlake (Hymenoptera: Colletidae), Rebekah Andrus Nelson, Terry Griswold May 2015

The Floral Hosts And Distribution Of A Supposed Creosote Bush Specialist, Colletes Stehpeni Timberlake (Hymenoptera: Colletidae), Rebekah Andrus Nelson, Terry Griswold

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Colletes stehpani Timberlake is thought to be a narrow oligolege of creosote bush, Larrea tridentata (DC.) Coville (Zygophyllaceae) with limited distribution in the Sonoran desert of the Western United States. Based on appraisal of a museum specimens and fieldsurveys from 1999 to 2001 on 21 sand dunes, we foundd C. stephani to be a much more widely distributed psammophile of theSonoran, Mojave, and Great Basin Deserts that utilizes two unrelated plant pollen scources,Larrea Cav. and Psorothamnus Rydb. (Fabaceae). The geologic history of the region suggests a potential host shift from the more ancient occupant, Psorothamnus, to the Neogene colonizer, Larrea.