Amegilla

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Amegilla
Amegilla quadrifasciata (in Portugal)

Amegilla quadrifasciata (in Portugal)

Systematics
Order : Hymenoptera (Hymenoptera)
Superfamily : Apoidea
without rank: Bees (Apiformes)
Family : Real bees (Apidae)
Genre : Amegilla
Scientific name
Amegilla
Friezes , 1897

Amegilla is a genus of the Apidae family within the bees . Amegilla includes more than 260 species and is found in virtually all of Africa (including Madagascar), the Palearctic and Oriental, and Australia.

Four species are known from Central Europe and 35 species from the Western Palearctic.

In German these bees are called fur bees , but the German name also applies to related genera, in particular to bees of the genus Anthophora . Scheuchl describes the species of Amegilla in English "bandage bees", which is not generally used. Some authors (e.g. Westrich) consider Amegilla to be Anthophora , but this is not recognized internationally.

features

The bees of the genus Amegilla have a hairy thorax and conspicuous dense hair bands on the abdomen. The head has white or yellowish markings in both sexes. The bees are strongly built, their wings have no veins on the outer part, the front wings have three cubital cells of about the same size. They are very fast fliers. The tongue is very long, in some species more than 20 mm long. In contrast to Anthophora , the legs do not have any particular thickenings or tufts of hair. The splints and metatarsi are densely hairy (collecting brush), so that the pollen is transported. In contrast to the species of Anthophora , a pulvillus (adhesive flap between the claws) is missing on the tarsi.

Some tropical species show a conspicuous metallic blue markings on the abdomen and are called "blue-banded-bees" in English. They are showy and widespread in Australia.

Way of life

Amegilla bees live solitary. They nest in self-dug cavities in the ground, often also in steep walls (for example in sunken paths or gravel pits). Often the nests are in large aggregations and the nest structures are often used over and over again. Some species also nest in wood. The adult animals usually only live about six weeks, which is not considered to be very long. Depending on the type and climate, there are one or more generations a year.

The amegilla bees collect pollen from different plants (they are polylectic). The females vibrate and pollinate the plants through what is known as vibration pollination . They are therefore important pollinators for tomatoes, eggplant and pepper plants . They transport the pollen with their hairy hind legs.

They can fly very quickly and are therefore underrepresented in collections.

Parasites

In the Central European species are cuckoo bees of the genus Thyreus demonstrated addition, oil beetle (for example Sitaris muralis ) and Chalcidoidea (for example Leucospis gigas ) nest parasites in Amegilla .

Systematics

The genus Amegilla and 6 other genera belong to the tribe Anthophorini, subfamily Apinae. After Anthophora it is the second most species-rich genus of the Anthophorini. Amegilla is the sister group of Anthophora . The genus was divided into 11 subgenera by Brooks, which, however, were not generally recognized. There are still many taxonomic and nomenclature ambiguities within the genus.

Central European species

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MC Orr, JP Pitts, T. Griswold: Revision of the bee group Anthophora (Micranthophora) (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with notes on potential conservation concerns and a molecular phylogeny of the genus . In: Zootaxa . No. 4511 , 2018, p. 1–193 , doi : 10.11646 / zootaxa.4511.1.1 .
  2. ↑ a b Ascher, JS & Pickering, J .: Discover Life bee species guide and world checklist (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila). Retrieved September 3, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e E. Scheuchl & W. Willner: Pocket dictionary of wild bees in Central Europe. All types in portrait . Quelle & Meyer, 2016, ISBN 978-3-494-01653-5 .
  4. ↑ a b Atlas Hymenoptera. Retrieved November 30, 2019 .
  5. ^ P. Westrich: The wild bees of Germany . E. Ulmer, 2018, ISBN 978-3-8186-0123-2 , pp. 198-204, 276, 649-657 .
  6. ↑ Ch. D. Michener: The Bees of the World . 2nd Edition. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2007, p. 74, 742-750 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e Remko Leijs, Michael Batley, Katja Hogendoorn: The genus Amegilla (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Anthophorini) in Australia: A revision of the subgenera Notomegilla and Zonamegilla . In: ZooKeys . No. 653 , February 8, 2017, ISSN  1313-2989 , p. 79-140 , doi : 10.3897 / zookeys.653.11177 .
  8. ^ J. Saini, SL Sharma & RK Gupta: Taxonomy of the bee genus Amegilla Friese with eight species ever recorded from Rajastan. . . In: J. Env. Bio-sci. tape 30 , no. 2 , 2016, p. 567-572 ( researchgate.net ).
  9. ↑ a b Factsheet - Amegilla bees. Retrieved December 3, 2019 .
  10. ↑ a b A. Dubitzky: Phylogeny of the World Anthophorini (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Apidae) . In: Systematic Entomology . tape 32 , 2007, p. 585-600 .