Epeolus
| Epeolus | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Apidae |
| Tribe: | Epeolini |
| Genus: | Epeolus Latreille, 1802 |
| Type species | |
| Species | |
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see text | |
Epeolus is a genus of cuckoo bees of the tribe Epeolini, the subfamily Nomadinae part of the honey bee family Apidae.[1] They are often known as variegated cuckoo-bees.
Biology[]
The species within Epeolus are medium-sized bees with bright patterns. There are currently approximately 100 species described from throughout the world. All known species of Epeolus are cleptoparasites of mining bees of the genus Colletes. The female enters the nesting excavated by the female Colletes bee and lays an egg in an unsealed cell. The Epeolus larva then consumes the egg of the host bee and then feeds on the pollen the Colletes bee provisioned the cell with for her offspring. Epeolus bees may be rather obvious and easily observed in the vicinity of the nesting aggregations of their hosts and often use the same flowers to feed on.[2] Colletes bees line their nesting cells with a cellophane like covering which they exude from the Dufour's gland to protect the cell from moisture and fungal infection,[3] female Epeolus bees have spines on the end of their abdomens which they use to pierce u-shaped holes in this covering so that she can oviposit between its layers, she also secretes a small amount of glue so that the egg adheres to the cell.[4]
Species[]
The following species are currently classified in the genus Epeolus:[5]
- Crawford, 1932
- Friese, 1922
- Friese, 1893
- Gerstäcker, 1869
- (Cresson, 1878)
- (Walker, 1871)
- Cockerell, 1924
- Cockerell, 1909
- (Moure, 1954)
- Meade-Waldo, 1913
- Dours, 1873
- Mitchell, 1962
- Epeolus autumnalis Robertson, 1902
- (Cockerell, 1907)
- Cockerell, 1907
- Cockerell, 1904
- Epeolus bifasciatus Cresson, 1864
- (Mavromoustakis, 1954)
- Friese, 1908
- (Lepeletier, 1841)
- Epeolus canadensis Mitchell, 1962
- (Moure, 1954)
- Epeolus carolinus Mitchell, 1962
- Eardley, 1991
- Friese, 1908
- Pérez, 1895
- Epeolus compactus Cresson, 1878
- Alfken, 1937
- Yasumatsu, 1933
- Bischoff, 1923
- Epeolus cruciger (Panzer, 1799)
- Cockerell, 1904
- Cockerell, 1934
- Mitchell, 1962
- Morawitz, 1872
- Friese, 1895
- Smith, 1879
- Friese, 1899
- Smith, 1879
- Mitchell, 1962
- Brauns, 1903
- Bischoff, 1923
- Cameron, 1902
- Say, 1837
- Cockerell, 1909
- Gribodo, 1894
- Epeolus glabratus Cresson, 1878
- Cockerell, 1908
- Epeolus howardi Mitchell, 1962
- Cockerell, 1918
- Bogusch, 2018
- Mitchell, 1962
- Pérez, 1884
- Robertson, 1900
- Bogusch, 2021
- Tadauchi & Schwarz, 1999
- Bischoff, 1930
- Pérez, 1884
- Friese, 1915
- Mitchell, 1962
- Epeolus lectoides Robertson, 1901
- Cresson, 1878
- Friese, 1917
- Cockerell, 1921
- Yasumatsu, 1938
- Cockerell & Sandhouse, 1924
- Fabricius, 1804
- Epeolus mesillae (Cockerell, 1895)
- (Robertson, 1902)
- Radoszkowski, 1888
- (Cresson, 1878)
- Smith, 1879
- (Michener, 1954)
- Cockerell, 1912
- (Michener, 1954)
- Epeolus olympiellus Cockerell, 1904
- Cockerell, 1911
- Nylander, 1848
- Cockerell, 1924
- Bogusch, 2021
- Bogusch, 2018
- Bischoff, 1930
- Bischoff, 1930
- Cockerell, 1937
- Cresson, 1865
- Epeolus pusillus Cresson, 1864
- Cockerell, 1932
- Cockerell & Sandhouse, 1924
- Cockerell & Sandhouse, 1924
- Bischoff, 1923
- Cockerell, 1941
- Cockerell, 1949
- (Michener, 1954)
- Schilling, 1849
- Epeolus scutellaris Say, 1824
- Radoszkowski, 1893
- , 1944
- Alfken, 1930
- Morawitz, 1874
- Meade-Waldo, 1913
- Eversmann, 1852
- Viereck, 1905
- Smith, 1854
- Cockerell, 1926
- Bogusch, 2018
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- (Holmberg, 1886)
- Mitchell, 1962
- Popov, 1952
- Bogusch, 2018
- Mitchell, 1962
- Epeolus zonatus Smith, 1854
References[]
- ^ "Genus Epeolus Latreille". An Annotated Catalogue of the Bee Species of the Indian Region. Dr. Rajiv K. Gupta. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
- ^ "Epeolus (variegated cuckoo-bees)". Steven Falk. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
- ^ Michael Kuhlmann (2007). "Molecular, biogeographical and phenological evidence for the existence of three western European sibling species in the Colletes succinctus group (Hymenoptera: Apidae)". Organisms Diversity & Evolution. 7 (2): 155–165. doi:10.1016/j.ode.2006.04.001.
- ^ Joseph S. Wilson; Olivia J. Messinger Carril (2015). The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America's Bees. Princeton. p. 266. ISBN 1400874157.
- ^ "Epeolus Latreille, 1802". Bionames.org. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
- Nomadinae