Fur bees
The bees of the two genera Anthophora and Amegilla are often referred to as fur bees . They belong to the real bees within the bees . Anthophora are solitary living bees who raise their children without a state. Because of their thick hair and their compact appearance, they are often reminiscent of bumblebees . Most species of these genera lay their brood cells in the ground, but some also in rotten wood.
The most common species in Germany is the common fur bee ( Anthophora plumipes ) that breeds in steep walls . But there are twelve other species, such as the Anthophora fulvitarsis and Anthophora furcata . Another species is the four-spot fur bee ( Anthophora quadrimaculata )
Delimitation of the German term Pelzbienen
Some authors (e.g. Heiko Bellmann 1999) use the German term fur bees for all members of the Anthophorinae . In addition to the actual fur bees of the genus Anthophora and Amegilla , these authors also include the longhorn bees , the mourning bees ( Melecta ), the spotted bees ( Thyreus ), the wasp bees ( Nomada ), the cudhorn bees ( Ceratina ) and some smaller genera ( Biastes , Ammobates , Ammobatoides , Epeoplus , Pasites ) to the fur bees. Since some of these animals (e.g. wasp bees) are bare and by no means furry, other authors use the term fur bees only for the two genera Anthophora and Amegilla (cf. e.g. BH & M. Hintermeier 2000). Some authors put Amegilla as a sub-genus of Anthophora (e.g. Westrich).
literature
- Heiko Bellmann : Bees, wasps, ants - the hymenoptera of Central Europe . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-440-06932-X .
- Heiko Bellmann: The new cosmos insect guide . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07682-2 .
- Helmut and Margrit Hintermeier: bees, bumblebees, wasps in the garden and in the landscape . 3rd edition, Obst und Gartenbauverlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-87596-098-X .
- Paul Westrich: Germany's wild bees. E. Ulmer Verl., 2018, ISBN 978-3-8186-0123-2 , p. 649
Web links
- Bee dictionary of fur bees: genus and species