Randomized observations document flower associations and phylogenetic relationships of Celonites osseus in Georgia, highlighting ecological significance.
The pollen wasp Celonites osseus is recorded for the first time for Georgia from the Vashlovani National Park. It has been observed visiting exclusively flowers of Heliotropium ellipticum (Boraginaceae) in a dried rocky riverbed of the Mlashe-Tskali River. The females remove pollen from the concealed anthers with their proboscis performing the same unique and stereotypic behavioural pattern as all other members of the Celonites cyprius -group. Flowers of Heliotropium suaveolens were not visited by the C. osseus females, despite being in bloom. A phylogenetic reconstruction of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene indicates monophyly of the C. osseus -complex nested within the C. cyprius -group. Based on the COI phylogeny C. osseus was identified as sister species to C. ivanovi .
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Geisendörfer et al. (2026) studied this question.
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