Natural Land Divisions

https://idnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=5dfe0dbec6634b7488bb10cc482372a4#

Back in February I was at a workshop showing the natural land divisions in my state, IL. It was interesting and later when looking at range maps for different bees I noticed that some species ranges seem to line up with where a division line is. For some species this has been hard to see: some species have limited observations, and some areas have noticeably higher human population which may be skewing the data. But there are two species that have a decent amount of observations that are interesting.

Bombus rufocinctus (Red-belted Bumble Bee). There is a noticeable drop in observations when you hit the Wisconsin Driftless Division, in all four states that contain driftless. Also drops in the Grand Prairie Division.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=45.540113359283964&nelng=-82.79998286596822&place_id=any&subview=map&swlat=41.148769922346894&swlng=-99.48821528784322&taxon_id=144011

Xylocopa virginica (Eastern Carpenter Bee). This one is interesting. Commonly found in the Northeastern Moraine Division, but in the Rock River Hill Country, all of the observations are right next to the border of either the NE Moraine or the Grand Prairie.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=42.74327523343659&nelng=-88.11791486076402&place_id=any&subview=map&swlat=41.57055446406828&swlng=-90.14489239982652&taxon_id=51110

Less commonly reported but still noticeable:
Melissodes desponsis (Eastern Thistle Longhorn) Range appears to run around Rock River Hill Country.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=42.57542799646697&nelng=-88.07685359350728&place_id=any&subview=map&swlat=42.016748363480325&swlng=-90.16288264624166&taxon_id=627202
Anthophora abrupta (Abrupt Digger Bee) Also drops on the Rock River Hill Country division.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=42.852908116721345&nelng=-87.0338390671401&place_id=any&subview=map&swlat=41.73555113846417&swlng=-91.20589717260884&taxon_id=134150

I don't know if this is due to lower human population in the Hill Country and Driftless, or if this is more related to these species being more urban than ag land adapted, or if there is and land based reason that a division line would have any influence. Especially odd considering that most of these are generalist pollinators and Xylocopa at least don't nest in the ground. There are species of Andrena that have a ground preference, but I'm not sure what's in play here.

Publicado el 04 de septiembre de 2022 por neylon neylon

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