Research on consortive complexes of anthophilous insects and entomophilous plants in the Donetsk Botanical Garden

The paper presents results of long-term studies of anthophilous entomocomplexes of 23 species of flowering plants grown in the Donetsk Botanical Garden. Our study has registered visits of 96 species of anthophilous insects belonging to 66 genera, 25 families and 3 orders of the above-mentioned plants. The largest number of species belong to the order Hymenoptera (78 species, 44 genera, 14 families). Among them, various species of wasps (29 species, 21 genera, 6 families) and bees (47 species, 21 genera, 6 families) prevailed. Based on the analysis of the distribution of anthophilous insects among the investigated plant species, 7 consortive complexes were identified: [Feniculum vulgare], [Mentha crispa], [Allium ramosum ∩ Allium porrum], [Vitex angus-castus ∩ Vitex cannabiefolia], [Althaea officinalis], [Satureja montana ∩ Hyssopus officinalis ∩ Calamintha nepeta ∩ Lavandula angustifolia ∩ Monarda citriodora ∩ Nepeta transcaucasica ∩ Ocimum basilicum ∩ (Origanum heracleoticum ∩ Origanum sipyleum) ∩ Perowskia abrotanoides ∩ Ziziphora bungeana], [Salvia sclarea ∩ Salvia officinalis]. The most unique was the anthophilous insect complex of the mallow, including 1 bee species (Tetraloniella nana) pollinating this plant in the studied area. The largest is the complex of 11 species of the Lamiaceae family, including 71 species of anthophilous insects. The general pollinators of most investigated plant species include bumblebees (Bombus terrestris, B. lapidarius, B. sylvarum, B. hypnorum), honey bees (Apis mellifera), as well as bees of the Colletidae, Halictidae, and Megachilidae families.