REMIZIDAE

Iorio, Osvaldo Di & Turienzo, Paola, 2012, Addenda to the insects found in birds’ nests from the Neotropical Region and Neotropical immigrants in the Nearctic Region, with a discussion of the probable transmission mechanism of Ornithocoris toledoi (Hemiptera: Cimicidae), Zootaxa 3349, pp. 1-17 : 9

REMIZIDAE

Auriparus flaviceps (Sundevall, 1850)

HYMENOPTERA : Oxaeidae

Protoxaea gloriosa (Fox, 1893)

UNITED STATES: Arizona: Cochise Co., 2 mi E Portal, 14-VIII- [1965], “one roosting nest swarmed by bees; a considerable buildup of beeswax on the outer and inner areas of the nest” ( Taylor 1971); ( Hurd & Linsley 1976).

Note 1: The mentioned “beeswax” ( Taylor 1971) is not a true wax (see the following note).

Note 2: According to Hurd & Linsley (1976), “by midafternoon the males [of P. gloriosa ] begin to gather in large masses on selected plants where they spend the night in a cluster. The factors that influence the initial selection of the cluster site are unknown, but they include such diverse situations ... as well as deserted bird nests, especially those of the verdin ( Auriparus flavipes ). Once the congregating site is selected, it is stained with a yellow excrement and has a distinctly noticeable odor.”

Note 3: Sleeping males in a nest of A. flavipe s are not mentioned among the specimens examined by Hurd & Linsley (1976). Nevertheless, they mention these nests as one of the sites choosen by males, but Taylor (1971) is not cited among the references.

Note 4: Sleeping male bees in birds’ nests was also recently mentioned from the Neotropical Region (see Di Iorio & Turienzo 2009).