Global dataset of bee and hoverfly body weight (mg) and co-varying traits

Abstract

Body size is an integral functional trait that underlies pollination-related ecological processes. This dataset consists of direct measurements of body size, as dry weight, and the intertegular distance (ITD) of 391 bee species (4035 specimens) and 103 hoverfly species (399 specimens) across four biogeographic regions: Australia, Europe, North America and South America. We used Bayesian mixed-models to test the power of ITD to predict interspecific variation in pollinator dry weight in interaction with different co-variates: phylogeny or taxonomy, sexual dimorphism and biogeographic region. In addition, we used ordinary least squares regression to assess intraspecific dry weight ~ ITD relationships for ten bee and five hoverfly species. Including co-variates led to more robust interspecific body size predictions for both bees and hoverflies relative to models with ITD alone. In contrast, at the intraspecific level, our results demonstrate that ITD is an inconsistent predictor of body size for bees and hoverflies. Collectively, these models form the basis of the dynamic R package, 'pollimetry’, which provides a comprehensive resource for allometric pollination research worldwide.