Claus Rasmussen

Aarhus University | AU · Department of Agroecology

This paper describes the traditional knowledge on the management of stingless bee colonies and the use of honey by Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities of the department of Loreto, in the Peruvian Amazon. Semi-structured interviews and collection of voucher bees were carried out from June to August 2016 and from November to December 2017. The...

As the globe becomes more urban, the question how much natural biodiversity can subsist in cities becomes increasingly urgent to answer, and also how is urban diversity structured? To contribute to an answer, we studied the metacommunity of bees in a North European metropolitan area. The system consisted of 13 sites in the city of Aarhus, Denmark,...

Landbrugsstyrelsen (LBST) har i en bestilling sendt til DCA – Nationalt Center for Fødevarer og Jordbrug ved Aarhus Universitet (AU) ønsket en rapport om bioressourcer, der kan anvendes til forskellige formål indenfor den grønne omstilling. Samtidig ønsker LBST, at der tages højde for eksisterende og alternative anvendelser af bioressourcer, samt m...

Understanding how niche-based and neutral processes contribute to the spatial variation in plant-pollinator interactions is central to designing effective pollination conservation schemes. Such schemes are needed to reverse declines of wild bees and other pollinating insects, and to promote pollination services to wild and cultivated plants. We use...

Insects provide key pollination services in most terrestrial biomes, but this service depends on a multi‐step interaction between insect and plant. An insect needs to visit a flower, receive pollen from the anthers, move to another conspecific flower, and finally deposit the pollen on a receptive stigma. Each of these steps may be affected by clima...

There is a global concern over insect declines, including both species loss and population declines. In particular, declines of species, such as bees that anchor trophic interactions and shoulder many of the essential ecosystem services, have been the focus of broad public concern. However, our understanding of what characterizes those species that...

1. Predicting plant‐pollinator interaction networks over space and time will improve our understanding of how environmental change is likely to impact the functioning of ecosystems. Here we propose a framework for producing spatially explicit predictions of the occurrence and number of pairwise plant‐pollinator interactions and of the species richn...

Since the publication of the first district catalog of Danish bees and the latest update of the checklist of bees known from Denmark, the following two species have been added as new to the country: Andrena batava Pérez, 1902 and Sphecodes hyalinatus Hagens, 1882. The bee fauna now includes 294 species known from Denmark. With an additional five ye...

The cuckoo bee Nomada bifasciata Olivier, 1811, a kleptoparasite on Andrena gravida Imhoff, 1832, was found at Voderup Klint, Ærø, in the spring of 2021 and is added to the Danish bee fauna, which thus reaches 295 species of bees known from Denmark.

Over 300 forskere fra de danske universiteter har med opbakning fra danske erhvervs- og interesseorganisationer netop udarbejdet et roadmap (vejviser) for grøn omstilling af dansk landbrug og fødevareproduktion. Kommunerne spiller en stor rolle.

The green transition of the agriculture, food and land use sector is a major and highly complex task. Meeting the combined challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land-system change requires for actors and agencies in the agri-food complex to rethink, redeploy, and reinvent instruments and mechanisms of governance at all scales, local...

A new species of Plebeia Schwarz (Hymenoptera: Apidae) from Argentina is described and illustrated. Plebeia mansita Alvarez & Rasmussen sp. nov. occurs in the extreme northwest of the country and is restricted to the biogeographic province of the Yungas, where it is found at altitudes above 1,000 m. Observations on behavior, biology and nesting sub...

Species of Symphrasinae (Neuroptera: Mantispidae) are ectoparasitoids of larvae and pupae of holometabolous insects, primarily of Hymenoptera in their larval stages. Herein we present the third case of an association between the mantidfly genus Anchieta Navás, 1909 with the order Hymenoptera. The hymenopteran species attacked by the as of yet undes...

A recurrent concern in nature conservation is the potential competition for forage plants between wild bees and managed honey bees. Specifically, that the highly sophisticated system of recruitment and large perennial colonies of honey bees quickly exhaust forage resources leading to the local extirpation of wild bees. However, different species of...

Vilde bestøvende insekter er generelt truede. De vilde bier, dagsommerfugle og svirrefluer, som denne rapport har fokus på, stiller imidlertid forskellige krav til levestedet gennem forskellige dele af livscyklus. I rapporten er levestedskravene eller habitatressourcerne, som de også kaldes, grundigt beskrevet for humlebier, enlige bier, dagsommerf...

Tetragona Lepeletier & Serville is a genus of stingless bees with 14 recognized species occurring from Mexico to Argentina. The genus is characterized by velvety genal area, mesotibial spur present, and propodeal triangle glabrous. Within the genus, the truncata species group (T. truncata Moure and T. atahualpa sp. nov.) is characterized by worker...

Meliponiculture and associated honey production are activities with a great potential for general use and commercialization in the Peruvian Amazon. Lack of management techniques and limited knowledge of honey quality are two factors which may hinder the implementation of meliponiculture. The present study was conducted in three communities in the P...

The European dark honey bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) is today a rare subspecies across the former range of northern Europe where it has largely been replaced by hybrid bees such as the popular “Buckfast,” involving, but not limited to, the Italian subspecies (Apis mellifera ligustica). Here, we report the presence of native dark bees in advertise...

Resumen La polinización es un servicio ecosistémico de gran importancia para el mantenimiento de los bosques y la provisión de alimentos en el mundo. El estudio se realizó entre septiembre y noviembre del 2018, con los objetivos de evaluar la diversidad de abejas sin aguijón asociadas al camu camu (Myrciaria dubia) y del incremento en la formación...

Understanding interactions between individual animals and their resources is fundamental to ecology. Agent-Based Models (ABMs) offer an opportunity to study how individuals move given the spatial distribution and characteristics of their resources. When contrasted with empirical individual-resource network data, ABMs can be a powerful method to det...

For bees to reach isolated islands, they need to be able to cross large water barriers. However, functional traits such as nesting behavior, flight range, and body size can limit their dispersal. In this study, the bee faunas of seven different islands or island groups (Anholt, Canary Islands, Fiji Islands, Hawaiian Islands, Madeira, Malta, and Sri...

The study of mutualistic interaction networks has led to valuable insights into ecological and evolutionary processes. However, our understanding of network structure may depend upon the temporal scale at which we sample and analyze network data. To date, we lack a comprehensive assessment of the temporal scale‐dependence of network structure acros...

The bee-flower biological association is one of the most famous examples of insect-plant interactions, and it is axiomatic that these are of critical importance for sustaining thriving terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, the most familiar associations are often artificially managed agricultural ecosystems, reflecting an exceptionally narrow range of bee s...

Recent phylogenetic analysis of the family Apidae has applied the tribal name Coelioxoidini to the distinctive genus Coelioxoides Cresson, which has been thought to be related to Tetrapedia Klug. However, the nomenclatural status of such a family-group name has not yet been assessed. Herein, we determine that this family-group name is available and...

The Møn Biosphere Area with its magnificent nature also hosts a rich fauna of native bees. Møn was in the past a favorite entomological locality for insect collecting and unique historical specimens of bees are preserved in the entomological collection of the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. Between 1852 to 1975, 61 different species of be...

We describe and figure a distinctive new species of the bee genus Andinopanurgus Gonzalez and Engel (Andrenidae, Protandrenini) from Apurímac and Cusco in southern Peru. Andinopanurgus vargasllosai Gonzalez and Alvarado, n. sp., occurs at elevations above 4000 m in the Central Andes and is the second species of this genus in Peru. The new species p...

The bumblebees of the subgenus Alpinobombus of the genus Bombus are unusual among bees for specialising in many of the most northerly vegetated arctic habitats on Earth. Most named taxa in this group (37 available names from a total of 67 names) were described originally from differences in the colour patterns of the hair. Previous revisions have s...

A striking structural pattern of pollination networks is the presence of a few highly connected species which has implications for ecological and evolutionary processes that create and maintain diversity. To understand the structure and dynamics of pollination networks we need to know which mechanisms allow the emergence of highly connected species...

Since the publication of the latest update to the checklist of bees known from Denmark, the following four species have been added as new to the country: Andrena falsifica Perkins, 1915 (Andrenidae), A. nanula Nylander, 1848 (Andrenidae), Lasioglossum pauxillum (Schenck, 1853) (Halictidae) and Megachile alpicola Alfken, 1924 (Megachilidae). The Dan...

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) commits its 196 nation parties to conserve biological diversity, use its components sustainably, and share fairly and equitably the benefits from the utilization of genetic resources. The last of these objectives was further codified in the Convention's Nagoya Protocol (NP), which came into effect in 201...

Inter-annual turnover in community composition can affect the richness and functioning of ecological communities. If incoming and outgoing species do not interact with the same partners, ecological functions such as pollination may be disrupted. Here, we explore the extent to which turnover affects species’ roles – as defined based on their partici...

A new genus of stingless bees (Apinae: Meliponini) is described and figured from Indonesia (Sulawesi), known from a single species previously placed in Geniotrigona Moure. Based on recent phylogenetic studies, Trigona (Geniotrigona) incisa Sakagami and Inoue renders Geniotrigona polyphyletic and is more closely related to Lepidotrigona Moure. The s...

A new subgenus is established within the Indomalayan stingless bee genus Heterotri-gona Schwarz (Meliponini). Sahulotrigona Engel & Rasmussen, new subgenus, is distinguished from amongst other Heterotrigona, particularly the subgenus Platytrigona Moure, within which one of the two included species was previously placed. The subgenus presently inclu...

We provide comparative comments on the morphology and provenance of the primary types of the species in the stingless bee genus Nannotrigona Cockerell. We offer an illustrated key to workers of all presently known species and designate lectotypes for the following species to stabilize their names: N. dutrae (Friese), N. mellaria (Smith), N. punctat...

The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used t...

Based on the examination of 47.629 specimens of bees from Denmark (54.6ºN to 57.8ºN) we summarize for the first time the distribution, phenology and host-plants for all 286 known species occurring in the country. The mapped occurrence records distinguish whether species are found only in 1974 or earlier, 1975 or later, or in both periods. Danish be...

Abstract: Description of a new species of Plebeia Schwarz, key to Argentine species of Plebeia, and comments on Plectoplebeia in Argentina (Apidae: Meliponini). A new species of Plebeia is described and figured from the Paranaense forest of Misiones, Argentina. Plebeia guazurary Alvarez, Rasmussen & Abrahamovich, new species, is distinguished from...

A district catalogue is presented for the 286 known Danish bee species. We examined and recorded label data from 47.629 bee specimens collected in Denmark during more than 200 years. Local occurrences were then recorded for each of the 11 faunistic districts of Denmark. Records are separated into those from 1974 or earlier, from 1975 or later, or f...

An important entomological collecting expedition to South America in 1919–20 is here presented in detail, based on the personal notes and observations of the expedition leader. The expedition lasted for more than a year: information is provided on the entomological equipment used, specimens exchanged and other details, as recorded in correspondence...

La siguiente presentación es un inventario realizado desde el año 2002 hasta la fecha en abejas nativas sin aguijón en la Región de Tumbes, y continúa elaborándose en el laboratorio de Entomología de la Universidad Nacional de la Tumbes. Se han realizado colectas de ejemplares y observaciones en forma directa de los nidos. Los ejemplares colectados...

DNA sequences offer powerful tools for describing the members and interactions of natural communities. In this study, we establish the to-date most comprehensive library of DNA barcodes for a terrestrial site, including all known macroscopic animals and vascular plants of an intensively studied area of the High Arctic, the Zackenberg Valley in Nort...

Our grasp of biodiversity is fine-tuned through the process of revisionary taxonomy. If species do exist in nature and can be discovered with available techniques, then we expect these revisions to converge on broadly shared interpretations of species. But for the primarily arctic bumblebees of the subgenus Alpinobombus of the genus Bombus, revisio...

Table A. Depositories. Collections from which pinned material of the subgenus Alpinobombus has been examined. (DOC)

Table A. Sequences. Sequenced samples of bumblebees (genus Bombus) of the subgenus Alpinobombus and outgroups with their accession numbers for GenBank (G) and the public project folder BBAL of the BOLD online database (B). (DOC)

The stingless bee genus Austroplebeia Moure occurring in Australia and New Guinea is revised, based on a morphological analysis of samples from 177 colonies. Five species are recognised: A. cincta (Mocsáry), A. essingtoni (Cockerell), A. australis (Friese), A. cassiae (Cockerell) and A. magna, sp. nov. Three different colour morphs of A. australis...

The nest of Euglossa (Euglossa) heterosticta Moure is described as the first aerial nest in the otherwise cavity-nesting purpurea-group. Associated adult males and females emerged from the nest permitting taxonomic notes to be provided for the heretofore unknown female of E. heterosticta.