Ammophila harti (Fernald) 1931. Another widespread species, Ammophila harti is distributed from Vermont to Alberta and south to Texas (Krombein 1979). In Michigan, its scattered distribution pattern matches the occurrence of sand dunes and blowouts (see Þg. IX-20 in Dorr and Eschman 1970).
BIOLOGY: An oblique burrow is prepared in open sand and is progressively provisioned over several days. Females may maintain several nests simultaneously, providing mostly small caterpillars of the families Noctuidae, Geometridae, Pyralidae, and Gelechiidae, which are carried in şight to the nest (Evans 1959, Hager and Kurczewski 1986). At Warren Dunes State Park I have usually associated A. harti with the same sites chosen by Microbembex monodonta Say, i.e., on dunes with scattered growths of the beach grass, Ammophila arenaria. Hager and Kurczewski (1985a, 1985b) have also published on the male reproductive behavior of A. harti and its interactions with cleptoparasitic şies.
COLLECTION DATES: 80 specimens, 25 June to 28 September, with most dates in July and August. Hager and Kurczewski (1986) found this species to have two to three generations per year in central New York.
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